========================
                          JeffNEWS, August 1, 1995
                          ========================


Female Alcoholics More Adversely Affected by Alcohol
----------------------------------------------------
Jefferson study indicates that female alcoholics have a greater propensity to 
alcohol-induced cardiac damage than male counterparts.

In a study that appeared in the July 12 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association  (JAMA), researchers from Jefferson Medical College and
The University of Barcelona in Spain have concluded that the heart of a
woman is more sensitive to alcohol abuse than that of a man.

In the study, which was led by Emanuel Rubin, MD, chairman of Jefferson's 
department of anatomy, pathology and cell biology, investigators assessed the 
strength of 150 male and female alcoholics by conducting muscle biopsies, 
echocardiographs, cardiac angiographies, treadmill-exercise
electrocardiographies and additional laboratory studies.

It was observed that female alcoholics had the same prevalence of 
cardiomyopathy as male alcoholics, despite having consumed far less alcohol. 
This finding contradicts a widely held belief among medical professionals 
that few female alcoholics get cardiomyopathy. Dr. Rubin emphasizes that 
degeneration of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy) requires longstanding 
chronic alcoholism. By contrast, light-to-moderate drinking exerts a 
protective effect against coronary artery disease and heart attacks.

"Since the majority of alcoholics are men, it is not surprising that most 
cases of alcoholic cardiomyopathy and skeletal myopathy have been reported in 
men," said Dr. Rubin. It was also noted that the threshold dosage level for 
the development of myopathy and cardiomyopathy is considerably lower in women 
than in men.

In addition, the investigators observed that for a given amount of alcohol, 
there was a greater decrease in heart contraction strength in female 
alcoholics versus participating male alcoholics. The researchers plotted on a 
graph the total lifetime consumption of ethanol per kilogram of body weight 
against the left ventricular ejection fraction (a measure of the heart's 
strength during contraction) for 50 alcoholic women and 100 alcoholic men. 
The slope of the line for women was considerably steeper than the one for 
men, indicating that for the same dose of alcohol, the hearts of female 
alcoholics were more severely damaged.

"Despite the fact that the average amount of alcohol in female alcoholics 
was only 60 percent that of male alcoholics, cardiomyopathy and myopathy were 
as common in the females as in the males. This, together with the more 
pronounced response of the heart to a given dose of alcohol, indicates that 
women are more sensitive than men to the toxic effects of alcohol on striated 
muscle," said Dr. Rubin.

It is estimated that there are approximately 12 to 14 million alcoholics in 
the United States, of which up to one third are possibly women. There are a 
growing number of significant studies that describe susceptibility 
differences between men and women to the toxic effects of alcohol. Women 
appear to be at greater risk for developing alcoholic liver disease and have 
a greater vulnerability to brain damage than males.

Heart disease, as well as behavioral factors related to disease prevention 
and intervention (for example, alcoholism and other drug abuse), are among 
American women's top health concerns according to researchers at the National 
Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women's Health.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information provided by:  Editor, JeffNEWS
                          (215) 955-6204
------------------------------------------------------------------------------