Call your doctor right away if you think you have alcoholic cardiomyopathy. Prompt treatment can help prevent the disease from getting worse and developing into a more serious condition, such as congestive heart failure (CHF). Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is most common in men between the ages of 35 and 50, but the condition can affect women as well. People with alcoholic cardiomyopathy often have a history of heavy, long-term drinking, usually between five and 15 years. Heavy drinking is alcohol consumption that exceeds the recommended daily limits.

Symptoms

However, this data does not differentiate between alcoholic and nonalcoholic causes of liver disease and includes non‐cirrhotic liver involvement. The signs and symptoms of alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) can vary depending on the severity of the condition.6 In the early stages, people with ACM may not experience any symptoms. However, as the condition progresses, they may experience symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, palpitations, and swelling of the legs and ankles.6 They may also experience chest pain, dizziness, and fainting.

• For some people, a combination of factors could also lead to a weakened heart.
• The major risk factor for developing ACM is chronic alcohol use; however, there is no cutoff value for the amount of alcohol consumption that would lead to the development of ACM.
• Once the damage is considered irreversible, it’s difficult for the heart and rest of the body to recover.

Complications

The main types include dilated, hypertrophic and restrictive cardiomyopathy. Treatment includes medicines and sometimes surgically implanted devices and heart surgery. Treatment depends on the type of cardiomyopathy and how serious it is. People with heart failure may find themselves being hospitalized frequently due to the buildup of fluid.

Health Conditions

Note that the heart walls are much thicker in the heart with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. See your healthcare professional if you have any symptoms of cardiomyopathy. Call 911 or your local emergency number if you faint, have trouble breathing or have chest pain that lasts for more than a few minutes. When the left ventricle becomes dilated, the mitral valve may not close completely, resulting in backward leakage of blood into the left atrium. When undergoing an exam, it is important to be open and honest with your healthcare team.

• Call your doctor right away if you think you have alcoholic cardiomyopathy.
• For women, it means more than three drinks a day or more than seven drinks per week.
• However, as the condition progresses, they may experience symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, palpitations, and swelling of the legs and ankles.6 They may also experience chest pain, dizziness, and fainting.
• The rate of liver disease including but not limited to cirrhosis in our cohort was between 15% and 19%.

Enlarged heart, in heart failure

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is a leading cause of non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy in United States. Myocardial depression secondary to alcohol is initially reversible however prolonged sustained alcohol use leads to irreversible dysfunction. Alternatively, a person can talk with a doctor about their drinking. A doctor can guide someone to resources to help them quit drinking and can make referrals. A long history of alcohol misuse may likely result in a diagnosis of ACM.

However, these limitations are counterbalanced by the considerable sample size and absence of selection bias. The findings of our study are limited to index stay and cannot be extrapolated to postdischarge events. It is also likely that the actual rate of AC may be underestimated because of undercoding given that a number of patients alcoholic cardiomyopathy symptoms would present as heart failure exacerbations, thereby altering code used.

ACM is a type of heart disease that develops due to chronic alcohol consumption. People often ask about alcoholic cardiomyopathy life expectancy. The hard truth is that if someone wants to stop the progression of the disease, they have to stop drinking. When the disease is diagnosed too late (later stages), the damage is often severe and the heart damage can’t be repaired. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy prognosis depends on how much alcohol has been consumed and how long the person has been abusing alcohol. These factors usually determine just how damaged the heart becomes.

Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes

Some studies have also indicated that some people may be genetically vulnerable to the myocardial impacts of consuming alcohol. Certain individuals with DNA or gene mutations may be more prone to the damaging impacts of alcohol; however, it is not known exactly how these genetic factors create a higher risk. Research shows that alcohol is the most frequently consumed toxic substance, but when it is abused, it can cause a host of health problems, including alcoholic cardiomyopathy. It’s important to note that alcoholic cardiomyopathy may not cause any symptoms until the disease is more advanced.

Lee is an Ohio-based board-certified physician specializing in cardiovascular diseases and internal medicine.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Cardiomyopathy is a condition characterized by abnormal heart muscle that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood throughout the body. With this condition, the heart muscle is thicker, stiffer, or weaker than normal, which can affect the heart's performance. Cardiomyopathy ranges in severity from causing no symptoms at all to causing exercise intolerance, fatigue, and shortness of breath at rest. To determine if a person has alcoholic cardiomyopathy, a doctor will normally begin an examination by checking pulse and blood pressure, along with discussing the patient’s medical history.