After graduating from Loyola University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Mariann Piano worked in a coronary care unit as a cardiovascular nurse. The constant stream of patients as well as a new era in understanding contributing factors to heart disease drew the Chicago native to seek more education and the scientific premise behind some of the nursing interventions then employed. She obtained both her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois Chicago, and began to study the effects of alcohol on the cardiovascular system during her dissertation work.
After working with animal models and investigating the cardiovascular effects of long-term alcohol consumption, she started examining the relationship between premature cardiovascular disease and binge drinking, particularly in young adults ages 18-30.
“It’s not particularly news that binge drinking impacts the cardiovascular system, but almost all previous studies only included middle-age to older adults,” Piano said. “Young adults, who actually consume the most alcohol and have the highest rates of binge drinking, have been excluded or underrepresented in these studies.”
Binge drinking rates are at an all-time high: One in five students reports three or more binge drinking episodes in the prior two weeks. More students drink to get drunk, then black out. They consume six to seven drinks per binge drinking episode. Compared to previous generations, the pervasiveness, regularity and intensity of binge drinking may place today’s youth at greater risk for alcohol-related harm.
Piano’s R21 project compares young adult binge drinkers, moderate drinkers and abstainers and will examine whether binge drinkers experience vascular dysfunction (i.e., abnormalities) in the body’s blood vessels. The study also will consider if binge drinkers have increased blood pressure and other markers during physical exertion, all of which can be indicative of premature cardiovascular disease.
Despite her area of research, Piano isn’t anti-alcohol. “I’m not against drinking. My mantra is that everyone needs to think about what they drink every week and drink at levels that constitute low-risk drinking,” she said. “For men, low-risk drinking levels are no more than four drinks on any single day and no more than 14 drinks per week, and for women, low-risk drinking levels are no more than three drinks on any single day and no more than seven drinks per week.”
—Nancy Wise