What question did this study set out to answer?

To assess the relationship between skeletal muscle disease and degenerative changes in heart muscle among individuals with chronic alcoholism.

April 1, 1994Annals of Internal Medicine

The Relation of Alcoholic Myopathy to Cardiomyopathy

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Why the study?

Is there a relationship between skeletal myopathy and cardiomyopathy in patients with chronic alcoholism?

Population

101 participants including 24 with chronic alcoholism and dilated cardiomyopathy, 24 with chronic alcoholism…

Design

Cross-sectional

Authors

JFJoaquim Fernández‐SolàGeneral Cardiology

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Muscle weakness may signal cardiomyopathy in alcoholics; supports shared myopathy hypothesis but leaves causal link and screening utility open.

Key Points

To assess the relationship between skeletal muscle disease and degenerative changes in heart muscle among individuals with chronic alcoholism.
Cross-sectional evaluation of 101 participants across six groups, including chronic alcoholics with dilated cardiomyopathy (n=24), chronic alcoholics with normal cardiac function (n=24), non-alcoholic cardiomyopathy controls, healthy controls, and postmortem controls.
Evaluated clinical muscle strength, echocardiography, radionuclide angiography, skeletal muscle biopsy, and left ventricular endomyocardial biopsy.
Alcoholic patients with cardiomyopathy had significantly lower muscle strength than alcoholic patients with normal cardiac function, patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, and patients with coronary heart disease (all P < 0.01).
Histologic skeletal myopathy occurred in 20 of 24 (83%) alcoholic cardiomyopathy patients compared to 1 of 24 (4%) alcoholic patients with normal cardiac function (P < 0.001).
Left ventricular biopsies showed interstitial fibrosis in 100%, myocyte hypertrophy in 95%, and myocytolysis in 83% of alcoholic cardiomyopathy cases, with cellular damage severity directly correlating with deltoid muscle weakness.

Structured PICO

Is there a relationship between skeletal myopathy and cardiomyopathy in patients with chronic alcoholism?

Population

101 participants including 24 with chronic alcoholism and dilated cardiomyopathy, 24 with chronic alcoholism and normal cardiac function, 12 with dilated cardiomyopathy due to coronary heart disease, 12 with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, 24 normal participants, and 5 young men who died suddenly in traffic accidents

Outcome

Relation between skeletal muscle disease (myopathy) and degenerative changes in cardiac muscle (cardiomyopathy) assessed by clinical assessment of muscle strength and histologic findingssurrogate

Diseases of skeletal and cardiac muscle in patients with chronic alcoholism are clinically and histologically related, suggesting that muscle weakness in an alcoholic person indicates a high likelihood of accompanying cardiomyopathy.

Cite This Study

Joaquim Fernández‐Solà (1994) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a7f6bb40ef299495efbf574 https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-120-7-199404010-00001

Topics

Cardiomyopathy

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Implication

Muscle weakness may signal cardiomyopathy in alcoholics; supports shared myopathy hypothesis but leaves causal link and screening utility open.

The Relation of Alcoholic Myopathy to Cardiomyopathy

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Structured PICO

Cite This Study

Topics

The Relation of Alcoholic Myopathy to Cardiomyopathy

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Structured PICO

Cite This Study

Also Consider

Topics

Also Consider