What Is Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy?

The analyses were adjusted for factors that can affect heart structure including age, gender, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and vascular disease. Many people know that long-term alcohol abuse can affect the liver and cause it to fail. However, other organs, including the heart, are also at risk when alcohol abuse is heavy and chronic. Alcohol consumption can lead to a heart condition called alcoholic cardiomyopathy, which may progress to congestive heart failure if left untreated. The baseline clinical, ECG, and echocardiographic characteristics of the ACM patients are shown in Table 1.

The lack of blood flow affects all parts of the body, resulting in damage to multiple tissues and organ systems. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy can be dangerous because it may be asymptomatic for some people who have the condition. In other words, no symptoms are present until alcoholic cardiomyopathy has already progressed, possibly leading to heart failure. As animal lovers and pet owners, FDA employees understand that the sudden onset of a life-threatening disease in a previously healthy pet can be devastating. The FDA is incredibly grateful to those pet owners who have agreed to be interviewed and given permission for their veterinarians to share medical records and diagnostic samples, including blood, serum and tissue.

What is the long-term outlook for someone with alcoholic cardiomyopathy?

Some studies have suggested that a genetic vulnerability exists to the myocardial effects of alcohol consumption. Individuals with certain mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) mutations and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) genotypes (DD genotype) may be particularly susceptible to the damaging effects of alcohol. Treatment for this condition starts with helping you reduce your alcohol intake or stop drinking entirely. That also may involve supportive care that will help prevent — or at least reduce the impact of — any alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Supportive care for withdrawal is especially important because some of its symptoms can be severe or even life-threatening.

Complete abstinence may stop the progression of heart failure or even allow for recovery in early stages [31–33]. All patients with severe ventricular dysfunction, regardless of cause, should avoid alcohol because of the risk for worsening of their heart failure. The signs and symptoms of alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) can vary depending on the severity of the condition. However, as the condition progresses, they may experience symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, palpitations, and swelling of the legs and ankles.[6] They may also experience chest pain, dizziness, and fainting. In some cases, ACM can cause arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats, which can be life-threatening.

Does Alcohol Protect Against Heart Problems?

However, if alcoholic cardiomyopathy is caught early and the damage isn’t severe, the condition can be treated. It’s very important to stick with the treatment plan and to stop drinking alcohol during recovery. The outlook for people with alcoholic cardiomyopathy varies depending on how long alcohol was abused and how much alcohol was consumed during that time. In cases where the damage to the heart is severe, the chances of complete recovery are low. Once the damage is considered irreversible, it’s difficult for the heart and rest of the body to recover.

• The FDA is still gathering information to better understand if (and how) taurine metabolism (both absorption and excretion) may have a role in these reports of canine dilated cardiomyopathy.
• The only way to cure alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy is with a heart transplant.
• If you suspect you may have alcoholic cardiomyopathy, make an appointment with a physician immediately.
• Some people should avoid even that much and not drink at all if they have certain heart rhythm abnormalities or have heart failure.

Alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy can affect anyone who consumes too much alcohol, even those who don’t have alcohol use disorder. However, it’s more likely to happen in people with alcohol use disorders or who have genetic mutations that cause them to process alcohol more slowly. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is a leading cause of non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy in United States.

For Patients

Ten patients who continued to drink higher amounts of alcohol all died during the follow-up period. Hypertension due to alcohol may be a confounding comorbidity in that it may contribute to LV dysfunction; therefore, LV dysfunction due to hypertension must be differentiated from pure AC. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is part of a wider group of heart disorders that are not particularly well-studied from a statistical standpoint. Unfortunately, there are no good data or studies on how commonly alcoholic cardiomyopathy affects people who face chronic alcohol abuse issues.

• The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
• This expansion causes the walls of the heart to become thinner as the heart itself becomes larger, eventually affecting the muscles’ and the vessel’s ability to function.
• Between January 1, 2014 and April 30, 2019, the FDA received 524 reports of DCM (515 canine reports, 9 feline reports).
• Alcoholic cardiomyopathy can present with signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure.

Because so many products contained peas and/or lentils, a category was created for “peas and/or lentils”. More than 90 percent of products were “grain-free”, and 93 percent of reported products had peas and/or lentils. There’s a popular belief that alcohol — especially red wine — is good for the heart. Richardson et al showed an elevation of creatine kinase, LDH, malic dehydrogenase, and alpha-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase levels in endomyocardial biopsy specimens taken from 38 patients with DC.

For patient education information, see the Mental Health Center, as well as Alcoholism, Alcohol Intoxication, Drug Dependence and Abuse, and Substance Abuse. Some of the above tests may also use materials injected into your bloodstream that are highly visible on certain types of imaging scans. Those materials, such as contrasts or tracers, are helpful because they can reveal blood flow blockages that would be very hard to see otherwise.

A healthcare provider can also connect you with available resources and refer you to other specialists and experts who can help you reduce or stop your alcohol intake. Pharmacologic therapy should include goal-directed heart failure therapy as used in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy with reduced ejection fraction. This includes a combination of beta-blockers, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, diuretics, aldosterone receptor antagonist and angiotensin blocker-neprilysin inhibitor (if LVEF is less than or equal to 40%). The use of carvedilol, trimetazidine with other conventional heart failure drugs have been proven to be beneficial in some studies. Incidence of alcoholic cardiomyopathy ranges from 1-2% of all heavy alcohol users.

This usually involves limiting your sodium (salt) and cholesterol intake and ensuring you are getting a diet that provides all essential nutrients. That’s because vitamin https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/alcoholics-heart-problems-cardiomyopathy/ and mineral deficiencies are more common in individuals who are chronic heavy drinkers. Consider a heart-healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet or the DASH diet.

All-cause mortality was assessed using Kaplan–Meier survival curves, and the risk factors were assessed using Cox regression. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to optimize the cutoff point for discriminating between the 2 risk groups. For the purposes of this investigation, the FDA defines a “case” as an illness reported to FDA involving a dog or cat that includes a diagnosis of DCM. Many of the reports submitted to the FDA included extensive clinical information, including echocardiogram results, cardiology/veterinary records, and detailed diet histories. The numbers below only include reports in which the dog or cat was diagnosed with DCM by a veterinarian and/or veterinary cardiologist.