Background: Chronic alcohol abuse has a dose-dependent toxic effect on the myocardium, leading to alcoholic cardiomyopathy. The fact that only a minority of persons with chronic alcoholism have this condition suggests the possibility of a genetic vulnerability. In this context, polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene has been implicated in cardiac dysfunction.
Objective: To compare the ACE genotypes of alcoholic persons who have cardiomyopathy with those of comparable alcohol abusers who have normal cardiac function.
Design: Case-control study over a 2-year period.
Setting: An academic tertiary referral hospital in Barcelona, Spain.
Patients: 30 alcoholic men with symptomatic cardiomyopathy and 27 alcoholic men with normal cardiac function.
Measurements: Ethanol intake, cardiac status, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and ACE gene polymorphism.
Results: The DD ACE genotype was present in 57% of alcoholic persons with an LVEF less than 0.50 and in 7% of those with normal cardiac function. Compared with persons who had an I allele, the odds ratio for development of left ventricular dysfunction in alcoholic persons with the DD genotype was 16.4.
Conclusions: Vulnerability to cardiomyopathy among chronic alcohol abusers is partially genetic and is related to presence of the ACE DD genotype. This finding demonstrates genetic susceptibility to alcohol-induced myocardial damage.