With a new analysis based on a cohort from a vintage randomized trial, the once-vaunted epidemiologic J-curve for alcohol intake and cardiovascular outcomes has flattened even further. Patients with heart failure (HF) stage B — characterized by ventricular dysfunction but no symptoms — who reported moderate or heavy alcohol use had a fourfold increase in the probability of disease progression, according to clinical and echocardiographic findings.
Those who started the trial with HF stage A, which is characterized by risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, or diabetes but no echo abnormalities, showed no signs of protection at any level of alcohol consumption.
