Association between alcohol consumption and stroke in Nigeria and Ghana: A case-control study

The aim of the study was to examine the association between alcohol consumption and stroke in Nigeria and Ghana.

The study is a multicentre, case-control study. Cases included consenting adults 18 years of age and older with acute stroke and controls were age-and -gender -matched stroke -free adults. Alcohol consumption was self-reported. The participants were classified into three alcohol-drinking status, which included abstainers, former drinkers, and current drinkers. The current drinkers were further classified into different alcohol drinking levels, including infrequent, light, moderate, heavy, and binge drinkers. Conditional logistic regression was used to determine associations between the drinking status and stroke, and the association between the different levels of current alcohol consumption and stroke. Five models were evaluated. Model 1 was unadjusted. Model 2 was adjusted for demographic characteristics. Model 3 included Model 2, lifestyle and psychosocial characteristics. Model 4 included Model 3 and dietary characteristics. Model 5 included Model 4 and metabolic characteristics.

A total of 7368 participants took part in the study. Half were stroke participants, and half were control participants. On the associations between drinking status and stroke, respectively, former drinkers showed no significant association with stroke. However, a significant association was observed between current drinkers and stroke in Models 1 and 2, with an odds ratio of 1.19 (95% CI: 1.04-1.38; p < 0.05) and 1.17 (95% CI: 1.01-1.36; p < 0.05), respectively. Regarding the various levels of current alcohol drinking and their association with stroke, no significant association was observed between light drinking and stroke in Model 5. In contrast, moderate drinkers, binge drinkers, and heavy drinkers showed a persistent and significant association with stroke respectively.

There is a significant association between stroke and current alcohol consumption, especially among heavy, binge, and moderate drinkers.