[Mortality of dilated myocardiopathies as a function of continuation of alcohol drinking. Multivariate analysis concerning 236 patients].

A retrospective study was conducted in 236 consecutive patients with dilated cardiomyopathy to determine the characteristics of the disease in heavy alcohol drinkers (n = 110) and to study its outcome, using a Cox model, according to whether the patients were abstainers (n = 49) or continued to indulge drinking (n = 61). At the time of diagnosis, pulmonary pressures were higher in heavy drinkers than in abstainers. During a mean follow-up period of 39 +/- 27 months, 80 patients died of heart disease, viz.: 46 out of 127 non-alcoholic patients (36.2 per cent), 31 out of 61 heavy drinkers (50.8 per cent) and 3 out of 49 patients who had given up alcohol (6.12 per cent). Thus, independently of other parameters, abstinence is a highly significant (P less than 0.001) factor of favourable prognosis in dilated cardiomyopathy.