Abstract
The role of heavy drinking as a cause of cardiac abnormality was studied in 436 male registrates to a health assessment program for actively working adult people. This group of subjects as a whole was also taken as a sample of nonhospital population, and the incidence of heavy drinker in it was compared to that in 47 male patients with nonobstructive primary cardiomyopathy seen in a cardiology clinic.
In the 246 uncomplicated "health assessment" registrates, daily drinking of more than 125ml of ethanol was associated with a significantly increased incidence of cardiomegaly. Moderate drinking (75 to 125ml of ethanol) was associated with a high incidence of sinus tachycardia and premature contractions, but not with cardiomegaly. Daily drinking, even in less amount, was apparently significant as a cofactor causing cardiomegaly, when associated with hypertension.
The incidence of heavy drinker was significantly higher in cases with, than in cases without, cardiomegaly among the uncomplicated "health assessment" registrates. It was also higher in male patients with primary nonobstructive cardiomyopathy than in the total nonhospital population.
From these and previously collected data, a drinking habit equal to, or more than 125ml of ethanol daily, for 10 years or longer, was suggested as a criterion for diagnosis of clinically significant alcoholic cardiomyopathy.
Specific association of chronic hypertension or atherosclerotic vascular disease with heavy drinking was not shown, and the mechanism by which ethanol induces the cardiomyopathy was not made clear.
