Evidence against the association between alcohol use and ischemic stroke risk

To examine the relationship between alcohol consumption and ischemic stroke risk, we used data from our case-control study of stroke risk. Eighty-nine patients admitted to the hospital with ischemic stroke documented by computed tomography of the head were matched to 178 controls. Alcohol use was defined by an estimate of customary use (heavy, moderate, light, or none). We found no consistent or significant association between any level of alcohol use and ischemic stroke risk (odds ratios: any, 1.3; heavy, 0.5; moderate, 1.5; and light, 1.5). We repeated the analysis of our study using a control group assembled according to the study criteria of another case-control study that reported a significant association in men with heavy alcohol use (odds ratio, 4.2). We demonstrated that the association in the prior study may be spurious due to methodological problems.