Search resultsAssociation between excessive alcohol consumption and echocardiographic parameters according to the presence of flushing reaction in Korean men: A community based study.
BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of excessive alcohol consumption on heart reflected by various echocardiographic parameters according to the presence or absence of flushing reaction that might reflect acetaldehyde metabolism.
METHODS: A total of 854 Korean men without significant cardiovascular diseases who underwent echocardiography and participated in the Korean Healthy Twin Study were used as subjects of this study. These subjects were classified into three categories: non-drinker, moderate drinker (≤ 196 g/week), and heavy drinker (> 196 g/week) within two strata of flushing reaction to alcohol drinking. Association between echocardiographic measurements and categories of the amount of alcohol consumption considering flushing reaction were evaluated using mixed linear regression model.
RESULTS: The proportion of flushers among drinkers was 39.5% (278 of 703). In stratified analysis by flushing reaction, non-flushers showed significantly higher left ventricular mass index (β: 4.605; 95% CI: 0.966, 8.243) and significantly lower ratio of peak early diastolic velocities (E peak) over peak late diastolic velocities of mitral inflow (β: -0.103; 95% CI: -0.198, -0.008) in heavy drinkers compared to non-drinkers. Flushers showed significantly higher left atrial volume index (β: 2.712; 95% CI: 0.456, 4.968) in heavy drinkers and significantly lower ratio of E peak over the peak early diastolic mitral annular velocities (β: -0.493; 95% CI: -0.902, -0.085) in moderate drinkers compared to non-drinkers. However, the interaction according to flushing reaction was only statistically significant for the association between alcohol consumption and left atrial volume index (p for interaction = 0.004).
CONCLUSION: Alcohol consumption is associated with changes in cardiac structure and function. Such association might be influenced by acetaldehyde metabolism. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.