Korean Circ J.  2022 Mar;52(3):220-230. 10.4070/kcj.2021.0269.

Causal Association Between Alcohol Consumption and Atrial Fibrillation: A Mendelian Randomization Study

• Yang JH
• Jeong JA
• Kweon SS
• Lee YH
• Choi SW
• Ryu SY
• Nam HS
• Park KS
• Kim HY
• Shin MH

• KMID: 2526956
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4070/kcj.2021.0269

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Previous observational studies presented a positive association between alcohol and atrial fibrillation (AF). However, previous studies using genetic polymorphisms on the causal relationship between alcohol consumption and AF have reported conflicting results. This study aimed to evaluate the causality between alcohol consumption and AF using the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) rs671 polymorphism, which is the genetic variant with the most potent effect on drinking behavior.
Methods
A total of 8,964 participants from the Dong-gu Study were included in the present study. The causal association between alcohol consumption and AF was evaluated through a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using the ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism as an instrumental variable.
Results
No significant relationship between alcohol consumption and AF was found in the observational analysis. However, the genetic analysis using the ALDH2 polymorphism showed a significant association in men. In the MR analysis, genetically predicted daily alcohol consumption was positively related to AF.
Conclusions
MR analysis revealed a significant association between the amount of alcohol consumption and AF, which suggests that the association may be causal.

Keyword

Alcohol drinking; Atrial fibrillation; Causality; Mendelian randomization analysis

Figure

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  Figure 1 Age-adjusted prevalence of atrial fibrillation according to alcohol consumption.

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