Heavy alcohol drinking and subclinical echocardiographic abnormalities of structure and function
Henrik Schirmer,
Sofia Malyutina,
Maria Averina,
David Leon,
Tom Wilsgaard,
Darryl Leong,
Olena Iakunchykova,
Andrew Ryabikov,
Alexander Kudryavtsev,
Mikhail Kornev,
Ekaterina Voronina,
Andrey Paramonov
Affiliations
Henrik Schirmer
Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Sofia Malyutina
Branch of Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Research Institute of Internal and Preventive Medicine, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Maria Averina
3 Department of Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromso, Norway
David Leon
International Laboratory For Population and Health, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
Tom Wilsgaard
Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromso, Norway
Darryl Leong
Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Olena Iakunchykova
Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Andrew Ryabikov
Branch of Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Research Institute of Internal and Preventive Medicine, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Alexander Kudryavtsev
Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Mikhail Kornev
Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Ekaterina Voronina
Branch of Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Research Institute of Internal and Preventive Medicine, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Andrey Paramonov
Central Scientific Research Laboratory, Northern State Medical University, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation
Objective The aim of the study is to assess changes in heart structure and function associated with heavy alcohol use by comparing echocardiographic indices in a population-based sample to those in patients admitted to an inpatient facility with severe alcohol problems.Methods and results We used data from the Know Your Heart study (2015–2017) which is a cross-sectional study that recruited 2479 participants aged 35–69 years from the general population of the city of Arkhangelsk in Northwest Russia and 278 patients from the Arkhangelsk Regional Psychiatric Hospital with a primary diagnosis related to chronic alcohol use (narcology clinic subsample). The drinking patterns of the population-based sample were characterised in detail. We used regression models controlling for age, sex, smoking, education and waist to hip ratio to evaluate the differences in echocardiographic indices in participants with different drinking patterns. The means of left ventricular end-diastolic diameter and indexed left atrial systolic diameter were increased among heavy drinkers (narcology clinic subsample), while mean left ventricular ejection fraction was decreased in this group compared with the population-based sample. In contrast, the harmful and hazardous drinkers in the population-based sample did not differ from non-problem drinkers with respect to echocardiographic indices of systolic and diastolic function.Conclusions Extremely heavy drinking is associated with a specific set of structural and functional abnormalities of the heart that may be regarded as precursors of alcohol-related dilated cardiomyopathy.
