Abstract
It has been known for some decades that chronic alcoholism can lead to dilated cardiomyopathy. Although excessive
drinking is known to result in alcoholic cardiomyopathy and light-to-moderate drinking may confer some
cardiovascular benefits, recent studies suggest that it is not only the quantity, but also drinking patterns and genetic
factors, that may influence the relation between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease. Alcoholic
patients consuming > 90g of alcohol a day for > 5 years are at risk for the development of asymptomatic alcoholic
cardiomyopathy. Those who continue to drink may become symptomatic and develop signs and symptoms of
heart failure. We summarize the experimental and clinical evidence regarding the role of alcohol in pathophysiology
of alcoholic cardiomyopathy.
drinking is known to result in alcoholic cardiomyopathy and light-to-moderate drinking may confer some
cardiovascular benefits, recent studies suggest that it is not only the quantity, but also drinking patterns and genetic
factors, that may influence the relation between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease. Alcoholic
patients consuming > 90g of alcohol a day for > 5 years are at risk for the development of asymptomatic alcoholic
cardiomyopathy. Those who continue to drink may become symptomatic and develop signs and symptoms of
heart failure. We summarize the experimental and clinical evidence regarding the role of alcohol in pathophysiology
of alcoholic cardiomyopathy.
Keywords
Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy Heart Failure Congestive Heart Failure
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Copyright
© 2009, Author(s). This open-access article is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows for unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.