Heart rate variability of chronic alcoholics in withdrawal and abstinence

Measurement of heart rate variability was performed in 106 healthy volunteers and 31 alcoholics. The mean momentary arrhythmia (MMA) of normal individuals showed an exponential decrease with increasing age. Cardiac autonomic neuropathy was found in 5 of 31 alcoholics. In agreement with the concept o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inClinical neurology and neurosurgery Vol. 87; no. 2; pp. 95 - 98
Main Authors Weise, F., Müller, D., Krell, D., Kielstein, V., Koch, R.D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 1985
Elsevier Science
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Aging
Alcoholism
Alcoholism - physiopathology
Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning
Autonomic Nervous System Diseases - physiopathology
autonomic neuropathy
Biological and medical sciences
Female
Heart Conduction System
Heart Rate
heart rate variability
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - physiopathology
Toxicology
heart rate variability
Alcoholism
autonomic neuropathy
Human
Heart rate
Withdrawal syndrome
Withdrawal
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Summary:Measurement of heart rate variability was performed in 106 healthy volunteers and 31 alcoholics. The mean momentary arrhythmia (MMA) of normal individuals showed an exponential decrease with increasing age. Cardiac autonomic neuropathy was found in 5 of 31 alcoholics. In agreement with the concept of hyperexcitability the withdrawing alcoholics had a significant increase in heart rate and decrease in MMA compared to later measurements. The result suggests that the diagnosis of autonomic alcoholic neuropathy may be reliable only after at least a one week period of abstinence from alcohol.
ISSN:0303-8467
1872-6968
DOI:10.1016/0303-8467(85)90104-0