Acute cardiovascular effects ofethanol Acontrolled non-invasive study

SUMMARY Theacutecardiac effects ofethanol (1g/kg orally within 60minutes) wereexamined in22 healthy volunteers (11 men and11 women)byM-modeechocardiography andsystolic timeintervals forthree hours after beginning ingestion. Eachsubject also took partinacontrol study, inwhich the samevolume ofjuice was substituted forethanol. Heart rateincreased by15%andcardiac outputby17%during ethanol intake, while total peripheral resistance decreased by15%.Left ventricular end-diastolic diameter was shortened by 2%during thedeclining phase ofblood ethanol concentration; stroke volume andcircumferential wall stress weresimultaneously decreased by7%and5%,respectively. Noethanol-related changes werenoted inechocardiographic indices ofleft ventricular function, neither were any sexdifferences observed inthecardiovascular changes after ethanol ingestion. Eachofthesystolic timeintervals was significantly altered evenduring thecontrol experiment. Theresponsesofeach ofthese intervals toethanol differed significantly fromthose inthecontrol test aswell. Notably, thepre-ejection period/ejection timeratio roseafter ethanol, this change, accordingtosimultaneous echocardiographic data, resulting fromreduced preload instead ofimpaired contractility, asmaintained inprevious investigations. Itisconcluded that alcohol inmodest doses iscapable ofaltering eachoftheextramyocardial influences on left ventricular function - heart rate,preload, andafterload - butdoes notimpair myocardial performance, atleast innormal subjects.