In the journal Stroke, French researchers have published a report investigating whether excessive chronic ethanol consumption is associated with greater severity of ischaemic stroke.

Patients with supratentorial cerebral ischaemia that occurred within the previous 48 hours were included in the study. In the present study, excessive ethanol drinking was defined as ≥ 300 g per day and strokes described as severe were scored 6 on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Ultimately, 436 patients were included in the study, of whom 60 (according to the above criteria) were ethanol abusers.
To summarise the results of the study, it was concluded that chronic alcohol abuse was associated with higher stroke severity on hospital admission.