The impact of chronic alcohol overuse on myocardial work

Abstract

Abstract Backgrounds The toxic effect of alcohol on myocardial function expressed as myocardial work is not clear. Myocardial work is a novel, based on speckle tracking imagining method that evaluates left ventricle (LV) work estimated by employing blood pressure and LV global longitudinal strain (GLS). Purpose We aimed at the evaluation of the impact of chronic alcohol consumption on echocardiographic parameters describing myocardial work. Methods A group of alcohol overusing 92 patients (ALC) and age and sex matched abstainers (CG) were compared according to clinical and echocardiographic data. ALC drank at least 10 alcohol units per week (AUW, AU – 10 gram of pure ethanol), median 28 (11–50) AUW whereas CG consumed at most 2 AUW. Results The median time of alcohol overuse was 19 (10–28) years. LV systolic function described by ejection fraction (EF) and GLS was decreased, whereas LV mass index (LVMI) was higher in ALC see Table. Right ventricle (RV) function was lowered in ALC when described by free wall RV strain. Global work effectiveness (GWE) amounted 91 (84–93)% in ALC vs. 95 (94–97)% in CG, P<0.001, also global work index (GWI) was lower in ALC 1334 (956–1761) mmHg% vs. 1984 (1765–2098) mmHg% respectively, P<0.001. Similarly, global constructive work (GCW) was 1662 (1223–2175) mmHg% in ALC vs. 2249 (2036–2320) mmHg% in CG, P<0.001, whereas global wasted work (GWW) was higher in ALC, see Table 1. Moreover, we observed significant positive correlation between free time (FT-time between last alcohol ingestion and echocardiography examination) and GWI (rho=0.24, P=0.02) as well as GCW (rho=0.23, P=0.03). Conclusions Chronic alcohol overuse was associated with significantly worse LV function expressed by EF, global longitudinal strain as well as myocardial work parameters. Moreover, the improvement of GWI and GCW reflected myocardial function recovery due to abstinence time. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.