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Review
. 2023 Dec 26:18:e65.
doi: 10.15420/ecr.2023.12. eCollection 2023.

Alcohol and Heart Failure

Debar Rasoul  1   2 , Ashwin Ajay  1 , Alend Abdullah  3 , Jean Mathew  1 , Benjamin Lee Wei En  1 , Knievel Mashida  4 , Rajiv Sankaranarayanan  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Alcohol and Heart Failure

Debar Rasoul et al. Eur Cardiol. .

Abstract

Alcohol is the most frequently consumed toxic substance in the world and remains a major global public health issue, with one in three adults consuming it worldwide. Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for disease, contributing to over 60 acute and chronic health conditions, with a particularly complex association with cardiovascular disease. Chronic excessive alcohol consumption is associated with a range of cardiac complications, including decreased myocardial contractility, hypertension, arrhythmias, MI and heart failure. However, low-level alcohol consumption is believed to have a protective effect against ischaemic heart disease and diabetes. In most cohort studies, small to moderate amounts of alcohol consumption have not been linked to heart failure, indicating a threshold effect of alcohol with individual (possibly genetic) predisposition rather than a continuous effect of exposure. This review article explores the potential benefits of alcohol on the heart, the association between alcohol use and alcoholic cardiomyopathy and the epidemiology, clinical correlates and management of alcoholic cardiomyopathy.

Keywords: Alcohol; alcoholic cardiomyopathy; heart failure.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:. Direct and Indirect Mechanism of Non-ischaemic Dilated Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy
Figure 2:
Figure 2:. Possible Contributors, Effect Modifiers and Confounders Linking Excessive Alcohol Intake with Cardiomyopathy
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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