A prospective study found acute excessive alcohol consumption was associated with an increased risk of cardiac arrhythmias in young adults. The MunichBREW II study provided detailed insights into the temporal relationship between alcohol intake and electrocardiogram changes.

Researchers conducted 48-hour electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring on 193 young adults who voluntarily engaged in acute alcohol consumption. The study, published in the European Heart Journal, aimed to investigate the occurrence and timing of cardiac arrhythmias during and after binge drinking.

The researchers reported increased heart rates and atrial tachycardias during alcohol consumption, modulation of autonomic tone with sympathetic activation during and after drinking, occurrence of clinically relevant arrhythmias, primarily during the recovery period, and 5.2% participants experienced notable arrhythmic episodes within 48 hours.

The study found mean heart rates increased by more than 7 bpm after four hours of consumption, and the percentage of atrial tachycardia beats increased significantly during the drinking period. Participants with higher regular alcohol consumption showed higher heart rates and more atrial tachycardia beats during the drinking period, and those with >5 binge drinking events in the past 6 months had lower SDNN levels during the drinking period.

The study enrolled 202 volunteers planning acute alcohol consumption with expected peak breath alcohol concentrations (BAC) of ≥1.2 g/kg. Participants underwent 48-hour ECG monitoring covering baseline, "drinking period" (hours 1-5), "recovery period" (hours 6-19), and two control periods corresponding to 24 hours after the drinking and recovery periods.

Acute alcohol intake was monitored by BAC measurements. ECGs were analyzed for mean heart rate, atrial tachycardia, premature atrial complexes (PAC), premature ventricular complexes (PVC), and heart rate variability (HRV) measures.

The study had several limitations, including the lack of a formal control group, the young age of the cohort potentially limiting generalizability, and the inability to rule out arrhythmias occurring beyond the 48-hour observation period. The researchers noted future studies should consider a randomized or cross-over design to minimize bias from unmeasured confounders.

Conflict of interest disclosures were not made available at time of publishing.