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Echocardiographic abnormalities in chronic asymptomatic alcoholics
L L Cregler1, T M Worner, H Mark
1Department of Medicine, Bronx VA Medical Center, New York.
Clinical Cardiology
|March 1, 1989
Summary
Alcohol abuse and hypertension may impair heart function more severely together than separately. Studies show combined conditions negatively impact left ventricular function and compensatory responses.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Internal Medicine
- Toxicology
Background:
- Alcohol abuse is a known cause of high blood pressure.
- The impact of hypertension on alcohol-induced left ventricular dysfunction is unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of combined alcohol abuse and hypertension on left ventricular function.
- To compare cardiac function in hypertensive alcoholics versus non-hypertensive alcoholics and non-alcoholics.
Main Methods:
- Echocardiography and systolic time intervals were used to assess cardiac function in 50 asymptomatic male alcoholics and control groups.
- Patients were categorized into groups based on alcohol consumption and hypertension status.
Main Results:
- Hypertensive alcoholics showed reduced ejection fraction and shortening fraction.
- Left ventricular mass indices were increased in hypertensive alcoholics compared to controls, but less than in hypertensive non-alcoholics.
- Alcoholics exhibited an inappropriate compensatory response to afterload, indicated by altered wall stress to mass ratios.
Conclusions:
- Combined alcohol abuse and hypertension appear more detrimental to left ventricular function than either condition alone.
- The study suggests an impaired compensatory mechanism in response to increased afterload in hypertensive alcoholics.