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Query: UMLS:C0018799 (heart disease)
 34,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Alcohol has been suspected for many years of being a cause of heart disease. For a while its role was obscured by its association with beriberi heart disease and, more recently, by the toxic effect of cobalt in beer. Experimental studies, however, have provided convincing evidence of the primary role of alcohol itself. The mode of action is still in dispute. In the absence of specific findings, the diagnosis is made chiefly by exclusion of other known causes of heart disease and by a history of excessive alcohol intake over a number of years. The usual methods of treatment for the manifestations of heart failure, arrhythmias, and thromboembolic phenomena are important, but total abstinence from alcohol is the single essential factor. The sooner this is instituted, the better is the chance of interrupting the otherwise inexorable course to death.
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PMID:Alcoholic heart disease. 14 Mar 74

Homicide, accidents and heart disease were the leading causes of death among young alcoholics treated at an outpatient alcoholism clinic over a 3-year period. Ways of preventing early death in alcoholics are suggested.
J Stud Alcohol 1975 Sep
PMID:Death in young alcoholics. 24 Sep 75

The widespread use of ethyl alcohol suggests its potential importance in clinical medicine. There is no proven therapeutic effect in cardiac patients and its role as an etiologic factor in heart disease has been disputed over the years and attributed to coexistent malnutrition. The latter factor, however, has been dissociated from ethanol use in many patients with the cardiomyopathic form of heart failure. Major support for the role of ethanol as a toxic agent when used in large amounts for a prolonged period has been obtained in various species of animals, including the subhuman primate. Abnormalities include depression of ventricular function, and metabolic and morphologic changes that parallel the changes in humans with preclinical malfunction of the heart. While the mechanism of progression to heart failure or arrhythmias is not known, several factors may be associated. These include, particularly in males, the cumulative effects of ethanol alone or after intensified drinking episodes, simultaneous exposure to trace metals in excess, and occasional specific nutritional deficiency or superimposed infection. The low prevalence of clinical nutritional deficiency in patients with alcoholic cardiomyopathy and the infrequency of heart disease in patients with cirrhosis or neuropathy supports the view that the cardiac abnormality is commonly not dependent on malnutrition. Clinical data indicate that the cessation of alcohol intake may reverse the disease or interrupt its progression in many patients. However, the pathogenic process may continue unabated in some patients who become abstinent.
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PMID:The role of ethanol in cardiac disease. 32 69

One hundred and seven patients with congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction and arteriosclerotic heart disease were studied by adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation, fibrinogen levels and ethanol gelation test. Both increases and decreases in platelet aggregation were observed. A significantly high percentage of patients showed a decreased platelet aggregation which was especially marked in the more acute as opposed to the less acute phase. In addition, most patients exhibited a marked shift from abnormal to normal platelet aggregation or vise-versa within a short time period. This pattern of platelet aggregation suggests an active role of platelets in the states of hypercoagulability. The hypercoagulability of these patients was further substantiated by a high percentage of positive ethanol gelation tests and high fibrinogen levels.
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PMID:Adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation in the states of hypercoagulability. 85 49

Alcoholic subjects differ in the incidence of cardiomyopathy. Of potential variables, sex may be important since few females are seen with cardiomyopathy, even adjusting for the lower incidence of alcoholism. To examine this question, noninvasive systolic time intervals were measured in 22 males and 14 females of similar age, heart rate, and arterial pressure, without clinical evidence of heart disease or hypertrophy. Duration and intensity of ethanol intake and the interval from last drinking episode were apparently equivalent. In male alcoholics, the left ventricular preejection period and ejection time (PEP/LVET) ratio of 0.410 +/- 0.020 was significantly higher than in the 11 normal males (0.316 +/- 0.007) (P less than 0.001). In female alcoholics, the ratio was 0.322 +/- 0.015, compared to 0.310 +/- 0.01 for 11 normal females, and was significantly less than in the male patients (P +/- 0.001). In addition prolonged intraventricular conduction by high-frequency ECG was more prevalent in the male group. To further ensure equivalency of alcoholism, patients with biopsy-proved cirrhosis were selected. In nine males, PEP/LVET was significantly higher than in the 10 females. Thus, abnormal myocardial function was evident in males but not in females, suggesting that sex is a determinant of the toxic effects of ethanol on myocardium.
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PMID:Preclinical cardiomyopathy in chronic alcoholics: a sex difference. 125 24

Moderate drinking for the elderly of both genders is no more than one drink per day, where a drink is defined as 12 oz of beer, 5 oz of wine, or 1.5 oz of spirits. Age does not affect the rate of absorption or elimination of alcohol. Lean body mass decreases and adipose tissue increases with age, however, resulting in a corresponding decrease in the volume of total body water. With a smaller volume of distribution, an alcohol dose identical to that administered to a younger individual of the same size and gender will produce a higher blood alcohol concentration in the elderly. Low-dose alcohol stimulates appetite and promoters regular bowel function. In the well-nourished nonalcoholic elderly, the negative impact of alcohol consumption on nutrition is minimal. Alcohol consumption improves mood by increasing feelings of happiness and freedom from care while lessening inhibitions, stress, tension, and depression. Although in the laboratory low-dose alcohol improves certain types of cognitive function in young men, in other types of task performance, alcohol induces impairment, which worsens with age. The effects of alcohol on sleep are primarily detrimental, worsening both insomnia and breathing disturbances during sleep. Although the role of alcohol consumption in mortality from heart disease has not been investigated in the elderly, moderate drinking appears safe. Under some circumstances low-dose alcohol may produce analgesia whereas in others it may worsen pain. The elderly use a significant proportion of both prescription and over-the-counter medication, a large variety of which interact with alcohol. Alcoholic beverage consumption may exacerbate cognitive impairment and dementias of other etiology. Although some studies suggest that moderate use of alcohol by institutionalized senior citizens appears to produce benefits including improved socialization, separation of the effects of the social situation from those specifically attributable to alcohol remains to be accomplished. Older individuals who want to drink, have no medical contraindications, and take no drugs (prescription or over-the-counter) that interact with alcohol, may consider one drink a day to be a prudent level of alcohol consumption. Patients should be counseled to avoid alcohol consumption immediately prior to going to bed in order to avoid sleep disturbances. They also should be cautioned against potential drug-alcohol interactions and told to avoid alcohol ingestion prior to activities such as driving. The decision to recommend a particular level of alcohol consumption in any given patient must, however, be carefully tailored not only to that individual's specific medical needs but to his or her social and environmental circumstances as well.
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PMID:Alcohol and the elderly. 157 71

The mortality experience of alcohol process workers (N = 1031) from two chemical plants was followed from the early 1940s to 1983. Reported associations of the production of ethanol and isopropanol by the strong-acid process with upper respiratory tract cancers, heart disease, and lympho- and reticulosarcoma were tested with both external and internal comparisons. Excesses of cancers of the larynx, buccal cavity, and pharynx, based on very small numbers, were observed. There was one death due to sinus cancer. It could not be concluded that there were work-related effects on mortality due to heart disease or lympho- or reticulosarcoma. Workers assigned to the production of isopropanol by the weak-acid method showed no evidence of excess cancer mortality (0 observed, 1.9 expected cancer deaths). The absence of major risks among strong-acid workers can be explained by the initiation of engineering controls and health monitoring that took place after the original medical observations.
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PMID:Mortality study of ethanol and isopropanol production workers at two facilities. 160 78

To examine effects of chronic alcohol abuse on left ventricular function, 162 otherwise relatively healthy alcohol abusers, having been admitted to a rehabilitation program, underwent cardiac evaluation including chest X-ray, electrocardiogram, and radionuclide angiography after 2 weeks abstinence. Twenty-nine of the 162 alcoholic subjects (18%) with left ventricular dysfunction were identified. Twenty-two had regional wall motion abnormalities, suggesting a localized process, of whom 12 also had depressed ejection fractions. Seven others had a depressed ejection fraction alone with a more global myopathic process. Only 4 of these 29 patients had any history suggesting prior heart disease. Two of the 29 had Q-waves greater than or equal to 0.4 s and 8 had an abnormal cardiothoracic ratio on chest X-ray. Chronic alcohol abusers appear to be at relatively high risk for left ventricular dysfunction; most of which is unrecognized. Routine screening methods failed to identify 85% of our subjects who later were recognized by radionuclide angiography. Since historical and electrocardiographic abnormalities are often absent in this population, detection of left ventricular dysfunction by other methods such as radionuclide angiography must be used.
Drug Alcohol Depend 1991 Aug
PMID:Unrecognized left ventricular dysfunction in an apparently healthy alcohol abuse population. 193 63

Trauma is the commonest cause of death in children and young adults in the USA and the UK and the incidence of both accidental and non-accidental injury continues to increase. In the Western world more pre-retirement years of life are lost annually from trauma than malignant disease, heart disease, and AIDS combined, and by the beginning of the last decade injury deaths outnumbered deaths from all other causes combined in those under 35 years of age. In South Africa, although infectious diseases continue to exact their toll, a similar pattern is emerging. Alcohol and speed are responsible for the majority of motor vehicle accidents, while the increasing ownership of firearms directly parallels the homicide rates from these weapons. Stricter application of the legislation governing alcohol, driving and firearm control is required and a regionalised trauma care programme is desperately needed to contain this epidemic.
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PMID:Trauma--the malignant epidemic. 198 97

Controversy as to which lipoprotein subfraction of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) increases during alcohol consumption prompted the current study of the effects of two alcohol doses over varying time intervals on plasma lipoproteins and lipolytic enzymes. Measurements were made in 49 healthy men before and after three weeks of abstinence from alcohol and after consumption of one or three 12-ounce cans of beer per day. We found that HDL (10%), HDL2 (14%), and HDL3 (9%) cholesterol, and apolipoprotein A-I (7%) decreased with abstinence from alcohol and then increased with its consumption. These increases were not significant until after 3 weeks of daily alcohol intake, but they were significant in both the one-can and three-cans of beer per day groups. In the 23 inactive subjects HDL and HDL2 cholesterol decreased with abstinence but did not increase significantly with alcohol intake. Lipolytic enzymes were not changed by alcohol manipulation, but the level of lipoprotein lipase was higher and that of hepatic lipase was lower at each measurement point in the 26 habitually active versus the 23 inactive subjects. Adjustment for weight or skinfold thickness did not affect lipoprotein changes over time within groups but did eliminate many of the differences between activity groups. Alcohol consumption seems to be related to possibly beneficial influences on plasma HDL and HDL2 cholesterol, and may thus impact the risk of heart disease.
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PMID:Effect of alcohol dose on plasma lipoprotein subfractions and lipolytic enzyme activity in active and inactive men. 210 42


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