Smoking and idiopathic congestive cardiomyopathy.

Two case control studies were performed to evaluate whether smoking may affect myocardial function. Cardiomyopathy subjects had a greater pack year smoking history than 52 control subjects with no CAD (p < 0.02) and were more likely to have diabetes (p < 0.10), but they did not differ from controls with respect to age, alcohol intake, or the presence of hypertension. The risk of cardiomyopathy doubled with an increase of 39 pack years. Smoking history was not related to ejection for fraction for subjects with severe coronary artery disease. These results suggest that smoking may be an important risk factor for idiopathic congestive cardiomyopathy.