Cerebrovascular disorders and alcohol intake: preliminary results of a case-control study

The role of alcohol as a risk factor for cerebral infarction and hemorrhage has been assesed in 200 middle-aged and elderly stroke patients and 200 controls matched for age, sex and hospital admission date. Computed tomographic brain scans were done in all but 10 of the stroke patients. Alcohol intake was reckoned on the 12 months preceding hospitalization and expressed in grams daily according to a standard nomogram. The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test was used for the diagnosis of alcoholism. Cerebral infarction was present in 59% of the stroke patients and cerebral hemorrhage in 9%. The role of alcohol as risk factor for stroke proved to be small (Odds Ratio 1.86) and was practically lost after adjustement for the most common risk factors for cerebrovascular disorders (previous strokes, arterial hypertension, diabetes, obesity and hyperlipidemia). Our findings seem to suggest that alcohol is not an independent risk factor for stroke in the middle-aged and elderly. The data are, however, preliminary and are discussed in the light of methological problems.