Harmful Impact of Tobacco Smoking and Alcohol Consumption on the Atrial Myocardium

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption are widespread exposures that are legal and socially accepted in many societies. Both have been widely recognized as important risk factors for diseases in all vital organ systems including cardiovascular diseases, and with clinical manifestations that are associated with atrial dysfunction, so-called atrial cardiomyopathy, especially atrial fibrillation and stroke. The pathogenesis of atrial cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation, and stroke in context with smoking and alcohol consumption is complex and multifactorial, involving pathophysiological mechanisms, environmental, and societal aspects. This narrative review summarizes the current literature regarding alterations in the atrial myocardium that is associated with smoking and alcohol.

Related collections

Most cited references 251

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Left atrial size and the risk of stroke and death. The Framingham Heart Study.

Emelia Benjamin, Ralph B. D’Agostino, Albert Belanger … (1995)

The medical literature contains conflicting reports on the association of left atrial (LA) enlargement with risk of stroke. The relation of LA size to risk of stroke and death in the general population remains largely unexplored. Subjects 50 years of age and older from the Framingham Heart Study were studied to assess the relations between echocardiographic LA size and risk of stroke and death. During 8 years of follow-up, 64 of 1371 (4.7%) men and 73 of 1728 (4.2%) women sustained a stroke, and 296 (21.6%) men and 271 (15.7%) women died. Sex-specific Cox proportional-hazards models were adjusted for age, hypertension, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, smoking, ECG left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, and congestive heart failure or myocardial infarction. After multivariable adjustment, for every 10-mm increase in LA size, the relative risk of stroke was 2.4 in men (95% CI, 1.6 to 3.7) and 1.4 in women (95% CI, 0.9 to 2.1); the relative risk of death was 1.3 in men (95% CI, 1.0 to 1.5) and 1.4 in women (95% CI, 1.1 to 1.7). Adjusting for ECG LV mass/height attenuated the relation of LA size to stroke and death. After multivariable adjustment, LA enlargement remained a significant predictor of stroke in men and death in both sexes. The relation of LA enlargement to stroke and death appears to be partially mediated by LV mass.

0 comments Cited 214 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Alcohol consumption and mortality among middle-aged and elderly U.S. adults.

Michael Thun, Richard Peto, Alan Lopez … (1997)

Alcohol consumption has both adverse and beneficial effects on survival. We examined the balance of these in a large prospective study of mortality among U.S. adults. Of 490,000 men and women (mean age, 56 years; range, 30 to 104) who reported their alcohol and tobacco use in 1982, 46,000 died during nine years of follow-up. We compared cause-specific and rates of death from all causes across categories of base-line alcohol consumption, adjusting for other risk factors, and related drinking and smoking habits to the cumulative probability of dying between the ages of 35 and 69 years. Causes of death associated with drinking were cirrhosis and alcoholism; cancers of the mouth, esophagus, pharynx, larynx, and liver combined; breast cancer in women; and injuries and other external causes in men. The mortality from breast cancer was 30 percent higher among women reporting at least one drink daily than among nondrinkers (relative risk, 1.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 1.6). The rates of death from all cardiovascular diseases were 30 to 40 percent lower among men (relative risk, 0.7; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.7 to 0.8) and women (relative risk, 0.6; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.6 to 0.7) reporting at least one drink daily than among nondrinkers, with little relation to the level of consumption. The overall death rates were lowest among men and women reporting about one drink daily. Mortality from all causes increased with heavier drinking, particularly among adults under age 60 with lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Alcohol consumption was associated with a small reduction in the overall risk of death in middle age (ages 35 to 69), whereas smoking approximately doubled this risk. In this middle-aged and elderly population, moderate alcohol consumption slightly reduced overall mortality. The benefit depended in part on age and background cardiovascular risk and was far smaller than the large increase in risk produced by tobacco.

0 comments Cited 184 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Aggressive risk factor reduction study for atrial fibrillation and implications for the outcome of ablation: the ARREST-AF cohort study.

Rajeev K Pathak, Melissa E Middeldorp, Dennis H Lau … (2015)

The long-term outcome of atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation demonstrates attrition. This outcome may be due to failure to attenuate the progressive substrate promoted by cardiovascular risk factors.