SUMMARYEtiology of QT prolongation and T wave high voltage was studied in 90 chronic alcoholics in relation to history of alcoholism, blood chemical values, heart rate and QRS voltage with a technic of multiple regression analysis. Incidences of QT prolongation (22%), T wave high voltage in lead V2 (9%), hypopotassemia (23%), hypocalcemia (26%) and hypomagnesemia (28%) were high, despite these examinations were done after relatively long abstention period (35 days on average). Sinus tachycardia (19%) and QRS high voltage (Sv1+Rv5 exceeding 4mV, 41%) were also frequent. Unexpectedly, QT interval did not correlate to serum electrolytes, including calcium. Major factors associated with QT prolongation were sinus tachycardia, longer abstention period and larger amount of daily alcohol consumption. Although the reason of each association was not quite clear, alcoholic myocardial damage may be a cause of QT prolongation. Voltage of T wave in lead V2 was sensitive to serum potassium level, but the observed tendency of hypopotassemia acted to the direction against high voltage of T wave. The sole factor positively associated with high voltage of Tv2 was high QRS voltage, which may be a manifestation of left ventricular hypertrophy.Additional Indexing Words: Alcoholic cardiomyopathy Hypopotassemia Hypocalcemia Hypomagnesemia T has long been recognized that prolongation of QT interval and various morphological abnormalities of ST segment and T wave are frequent on ECG in patients with chronic alcoholism.1)-6) Some of these changes were considered by Evans2) as indicative of alcoholic cardiomyopathy. Some varieties of ST-T changes are, however, rapidly reversible following abstention from alcohol,1),3) and may not be related to chronic cardiomyopathy.

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The role of heavy drinking as a cause of cardiac abnormality was studied in 436 male registrates to a health assessment program for actively working adult people.This group of subjects as a whole was also taken as a sample of non-hospital population, and the incidence of heavy drinker in it was compared to that in 47 male patients with non-obstructive primary cardiomyopathy seen in a cardiology clinic. In the 246 uncomplicated "health assessment" registrates, daily drinking of more than 125ml of ethanol was associated with a significantly increased incidence of cardiomegaly.Moderate drinking (75 to 125ml of ethanol) was associated with a high incidence of sinus tachycardia and