217 JNMA I VOL 52 I NO. 5 I ISSUE 189 I JAN-MAR, 2013 Coexistence of Cardiomyopathy and Chronic Liver Disease in Non-Moderate Drinkers Mani Prasad Gautam, 1 Usha Ghimire, 2 Gangapatnam Subramanyam, 1 Sogunuru Guruprasad 1 1 Department of Cardiology, College of Medical Sciences, Bharatpur, Nepal, 2 Applied Biochemist, COMAT, Kathmandu, Nepal. ABSTrACT Introduction: The dose-response relationship suggests a toxic effect of alcohol on heart and liver and the possibility of a correlation between alcohol-induced liver and heart disease. The present study was aimed to look into the relationship between chronic liver and heart muscle disease among the non-moderate drinkers in our context. Methods: An observational study on non-moderate chronic drinkers was carried out. Clinical evaluation along with detail sonographic study of heart and liver was conducted. results: Fifty-eight percent had echocardiographic features consistent with heart muscle disease, either as a dilated cardiomyopathy, categorized by the presence of echo features of impaired LV systolic function and dilated left ventricle or as a possible cardiomyopathy categorized by the presence of any of these two echo features. Similarly, 56 of the total recruits showed ultrasonographic evidence of chronic liver disease as cirrhosis or early cirrhosis. Approximately, 86% of these 56 non- moderate drinkers with chronic liver disease also had echocardiographic features of heart muscle disease and 83% of the 58 non-moderate drinkers showing echo features of heart muscle disease had ultrasonographic features of chronic liver disease. Conclusions: Our study showed a strongly positive relationship on the coexistence of chronic liver disease and cardiomyopathy among the non-moderate drinkers. Non-moderate drinkers with chronic liver disease have a high likelihood of having a concurrent clinical or sub-clinical heart muscle disease and vice versa. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: alcohol; chronic liver disease; heart muscle disease; non-moderate drinking. ________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________ Correspondence: Dr. Mani Prasad Gautam, College of Medical Sciences, Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal. Email: manigautam@hotmail.com, Phone: 9851076043. INTrODUCTION Alcoholic beverages have been used and abused since the dawn of history. In western communities, 90% people drink alcohol once in a life time, 40 to 50% of men have temporary alcohol induced problems and 10 to 20% of men and 3 to 10% of women develop pervasive and persistent alcohol related problems. 1,2 The effect of alcohol consumption on human health is complex. Although the moderate intake appears to exert a protective effect against coronary heart disease, 3-5 the non-moderate drinking increases overall mortality 6 and morbidity due to cardiovascular diseases. 3 Alcoholism CC S BY NC OPEN ACCESS ORIGINAL ARTICLE J Nepal Med Assoc 2013;52(189):217-23