Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy: Causes, Symptoms, and Diagnosis

Decades of research has found that people who drink light to moderate amounts of alcohol enjoy better cardiovascular health than abstainers, but that benefit quickly disappears as consumption rises into heavy drinking. But in recent years, a vocal group of public health advocates has argued that no https://wyomingdigest.com/top-5-advantages-of-staying-in-a-sober-living-house/ level of drinking is safe. Now, a new study says that heavy drinkers who reduce their consumption to moderate levels stand to benefit in major ways, particularly when it comes to heart health. There is a very clear link between regularly drinking too much alcohol and having high blood pressure.

Alcohol Consumption and Total Stroke Incidence and Prevalence

The key to diagnosis is a personal history of chronic heavy alcohol use and the absence of other etiologies. In the study – published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association – researchers examined blood samples from 2,525 adults ages from 2015 to 2018. Nearly all the participants were from the general population of Arkhangelsk, a city in northwest Russia.

• Importantly however, remember that much of this information can be derived or inferred from the results of noninvasive testing.
• Jugular venous distention, peripheral edema, and hepatomegaly are evidence of elevated right heart pressures and right ventricular dysfunction.
• Doctors refer to this phenomenon as „holiday heart“ because they see more cases of it around the holidays, when people are more likely to overindulge in alcohol.
• Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a disease in which the long-term consumption of alcohol leads to heart failure.[1] ACM is a type of dilated cardiomyopathy.

What to know about alcohol and congestive heart failure

More studies today report alcohol consumption in terms of either “drinks” or grams/units of ethanol per day or week, and alcohol consumption is measured by self-report. Most investigators also define the amount of alcohol that constitutes a “standard” drink as 12 to 15 g (with only slight variation). While light/moderate drinkers lowered their risk for cardiovascular disease, the study also showed that any amount of alcohol increases the risk of cancer. Other findings may include cool extremities with decreased pulses and generalized cachexia, muscle atrophy, and weakness due to chronic heart failure and/or the direct effect of chronic alcohol consumption. Physical examination findings in alcoholic cardiomyopathy (AC) are not unique compared with findings in dilated cardiomyopathy from other causes. Elevated systemic blood pressure may reflect excessive intake of alcohol, but not AC per se.

What are the symptoms of alcoholic cardiomyopathy?

Tell your health care provider if anyone in your family has or had cardiomyopathy or other health conditions that caused an enlarged heart. When diagnosed early, proper treatment of the underlying condition may prevent the enlarged heart from getting Top 5 Advantages of Staying in a Sober Living House worse. On physical examination, patients present with non-specific signs of congestive heart failure such as anorexia, generalized cachexia, muscular atrophy, weakness, peripheral edema, third spacing, hepatomegaly, and jugular venous distention.

Managing Atrial Fibrillation

Cardiac percussion and palpation reveal evidence of an enlarged heart with a laterally displaced and diffuse point of maximal impulse. Auscultation can help to reveal the apical murmur of mitral regurgitation and the lower parasternal murmur of tricuspid regurgitation secondary to papillary muscle displacement and dysfunction. Third and fourth heart sounds can be heard, and they signify systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Pulmonary rales signify pulmonary congestion secondary to elevated left atrial and left ventricular end-diastolic pressures. Jugular venous distention, peripheral edema, and hepatomegaly are evidence of elevated right heart pressures and right ventricular dysfunction. Frequently, a relative decrease occurs in systolic blood pressure because of reduced cardiac output and increased diastolic blood pressure due to peripheral vasoconstriction, resulting in a decrease in the pulse pressure.

Aren’t there some benefits to drinking alcohol?

PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Surgeries carry a risk of bleeding or infection, along with other risks that vary by procedure. If you’re concerned about these and other risks, talk to your provider about what safeguards are in place to protect you. In some cases, elite athletes will develop an enlarged heart just due to repeated exertion. In this case, the heart’s function will be normal (or even better than normal) despite the enlargement.

Some doctors will advise people with any form of heart failure not to drink alcohol. Managing Atrial Fibrillation will explain what atrial fibrillation is, how to know if you have it, its causes, and the treatments available. Afib can be a complex health condition, so the more you know about it, the better you will be able to work with your doctor.

Does quitting alcohol lower blood pressure?

By comparing only people who continued drinking heavily with people who reduced their intake to moderate levels, the study could calculate a more accurate comparison of relative risk between the two groups. Data derived from systematic reviews and meta-analyses suggest that alcohol-dose and CV-health relationships differ for various CV conditions. For example, certain levels of alcohol consumption that lower risk for CHD may increase it for other CV conditions, such as stroke. In addition, data from studies using new research methods, including Mendelian randomization, suggest that the relationship between low-to-moderate alcohol consumption and cardioprotection merits more critical appraisal (Holmes et al. 2014).