Study examines acute effects of low-dose alcohol on cardiac performance
Posted on July 15th, 2011
Few studies have examined the acute effects of alcohol on myocardial or heart function. While moderate-to-high blood concentrations of alcohol acutely impair conventional echocardiographic measures of left ventricular performance, the effects of low concentrations are unclear. An examination of the acute effects of low blood concentrations of alcohol on the left and right ventricles, which collectively pump blood to the entire body, has found that low doses of alcohol can have very different effects on LV and right ventricular function.
Results will be published in the October 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
“Little data exist regarding the acute effects of alcohol on the heart,” said Matteo Cameli, a cardiologist at the Cardiologia Universitaria of Siena as well as corresponding author for the study. “Previous studies have reported a reduction in LV performance after an assumption of moderate or high doses of alcohol, but the effects of low doses are still unknown.”
Cameli explained that LV and RV function work very differently. “They are like two different worlds,” he said, “both for structure and function of myocardial fibers that they present. Yet their differences, and the effects that low doses of alcohol have on them, have relevant social implications, given that light drinking is such a common practice.”
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Tags: Acute Effects, Alcohol
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