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Natural History of Alcoholic Myopathy: A 5‐Year Study
Author(s) -
Estruch Ramon,
Sacanella Emilio,
FernandezSola Joaquim,
Nicolas Josep Maria,
Rubin Emanuel,
UrbanoMarquez Alvaro
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1998.tb05911.x
Subject(s) - abstinence , myopathy , chronic alcoholism , medicine , alcohol abuse , muscle strength , alcohol dependence , natural history , gastroenterology , alcohol , psychology , psychiatry , biology , biochemistry
Chronic myopathy is a common complication of alcoholism, but its natural history has not been well described. We, therefore, studied muscle structure and function in a 5‐year study of 30 chronic alcoholics who became abstinent and 20 who relapsed, and 40 control subjects. The mean strength of the abstaining alcoholics increased from 18.6 to 23.2 kg; but, after 5 years, they were still substantially weaker than controls. In a subset who showed histological myopathy, the strength of half of the patients remained two standard deviations below that of controls. Alcoholics who relapsed tended to become progressively weaker (21.7 kg vs. 18.2 kg) and develop histological evidence of myopathy. Thus, continued alcohol abuse was generally reflected in deterioration of muscle strength and the appearance of histological injury to muscle. Importantly, almost half of the sober patients did not recover to normal levels, indicating that alcoholic myopathy is only partially reversible. We also unexpectedly found that, in some alcoholics, a substantial reduction in the amount of alcohol consumed may be as effective as complete abstinence in improving muscle strength or preventing its deterioration.