Stroke risks of festive over-indulgence

The Stroke Association warned today that people who drink heavily or binge drink (having over six units in a single sitting) during the festive season are putting themselves at an increased risk of stroke.

A 1999 report 'Alcohol Consumption and Mortality' which followed almost 6,000 Scottish men over a 20-year period, found that those who drank five or more units a day were twice as likely to die from a stroke compared to non-drinkers.

"Christmas is a time when many people drink more alcohol than they would normally," said Margaret Goose, Chief Executive of The Stroke Association. "We want people to enjoy themselves, but we have to make people aware that by getting too 'merry' they are risking their health and their lives. We are especially concerned by the binge drinking culture among women, as more women die from stroke than men."

Heavy drinking and binge drinking dramatically increases blood pressure, which is the main risk factor for stroke.

80 - 90% of strokes are ischaemic, caused by blood clots blocking arteries. As with heart attacks, small amounts of alcohol - one to two units per day - seem to help protect against this type of stroke as alcohol thins the blood and may reduce the risk of clots.

The remaining percent of strokes are haemorrhagic, bleeding caused by burst blood vessels in or around the brain. The blood thinning properties of alcohol may increase the chance of a bleed in people at risk of haemorrhagic strokes. Even relatively small amounts of alcohol - two or three units per day - can double or treble the risk of a haemorrhagic stroke.

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For further information please contact the press office:
020 7566 1515 / 07985 607 662

Stroke helpline number: 0845 30 33 100

Notes to editor

· Each year over 130,000 people in England and Wales have a stroke.

· Of all people who suffer from a stroke, about a third are likely to die within the first 10 days, about a third are likely to make a recovery within one month and about a third are likely to be left disabled and needing rehabilitation.

· Stroke has a greater disability impact than any other medical condition. A quarter of a million people are living with long-term disability as a result of stroke in the UK.

· The Stroke Association has recently launched Why Are We Waiting? the latest phase in a campaign to urge the NHS to tackle more quickly the need for all stroke patients to have access to specialist stroke care.

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