ASSESSMENT OF CARDIAC FUNCTIONS IN RELATION WITH ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY AND ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN CHRONIC ALCOHOLIC PATIENTS

Background: Alcohol is most commonly abused drug worldwide. It has been shown to produce toxic effects in almost every organ system in the body. Many of these medical conditions can be attributed to direct effects of alcohol whereas others are indirect sequelae that may result from nutritional deficiencies or predisposition to trauma. Alcohol consumption has been associated with a variety of cardio vascular disorders this study was thus undertaken to know the Electrocardiographic and Echocardiographic abnormalities in asymptomatic chronic alcoholic patients. Materials and Methods: This Analytical Cross sectional Study was carried out during 1stApril 2021to 30thSept 2022 in 100 chronic alcoholic patients in the age group of 21-40 years with daily alcohol intake of > 80 g/day for > 5 years., having history of chronic alcoholism as defined, for more than 5 years were evaluated by electrocardiography and echocardiography. Patients with known diabetics, hypertensive and cardiovascular disorders were excluded from the study group. Results: The prevalence of cardiovascular abnormalities in patients of chronic alcoholism is 37% in our study. Most common ECG changes are sinus tachycardia (18%), and Non specific ST-T changes (9%). Most common 2D ECHO changes was increased posterior wall thickness (11%) and followed by increased interventricular septum thickness and decreased ejection fraction (<40%). The prevalence of cardio vascular abnormalities are more with increased duration of alcohol consumption and also high in advanced age group. Conclusions: This study confirms that many electrocardiographic as well as echocardiographic changes occur prior to symptomatic cardiac disorders established to be caused by chronic alcohol intake such as alcoholic cardiomyopathy .which probably are early indictors of ongoing effects of alcohol and are reversible during the early stages detected by non invasive investigations like Electrocardiography and Echocardiography that later proceeds to alcoholic dilated cardiomyopathy.