Objective: To test the hypothesis that alcohol consumption is positively related to heart rate variability (HRV) in women with coronary heart disease (CHD) and therefore that cardiac autonomic activity is potentially implicated in the mediation of the favourable effects of moderate drinking. Design, settings, and patients: Cross sectional study of female patients who survived hospitalisation for acute myocardial infarction or underwent a revascularisation procedure, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, or coronary artery bypass grafting. Main outcome measures: Ambulatory 24 hour ECG was recorded during normal activities. The mean of the standard deviations of all normal to normal intervals for all five minute segments of the entire recording (SDNNI) and the following frequency domain parameters were assessed: total power, high frequency power, low frequency power, and very low frequency power. A standardised questionnaire evaluated self reported consumption of individual alcoholic beverage types: beer, wine, and spirits. Other clinical characteristics, such as age, body mass index, smoking habits, history of diabetes mellitus, menopausal status, educational status, and treatment, were also assessed. Results: Wine intake was associated with increased HRV in both time and frequency domains independently of other clinical covariates (for example, ln SDNNI was 3.89 among wine drinkers v 3.59 among wine non-drinkers in the multivariate model; p = 0.014). In contrast, consumption of beer and spirits and the total amount of alcohol consumed did not relate significantly to any of the HRV parameters. Conclusion: Intake of wine, but not of spirits or beer, is positively and independently associated with HRV in women with CHD. These results may contribute to the understanding of the complex relation between alcohol consumption and CHD.

This is a 5-year follow-up study of coronary artery by-pass graft (CABG) patients. Our aim was: To study the development of previously rated psycho-medical aspects, with special reference to depression among the CABG patients. The patients were sent two questionnaires, one of which focused on psycho-medical factors and the other on depression. The average rate of participation was 80%. The most important results were that previously high levels of depression were no longer to be found and that post-operative depression among the CABG patients clearly disappears over time.

ABSTRACT. Patients with suspected or proven acute myocardial infarction complicated by ventricular arrhythmias not corrected by lidocaine therapy (bolus dose 100 mg followed by infusion 2 mg/min) were treated either with an increased dose of lidocaine (bolus dose 50 mg followed by infusion 3 mg/min) or with 600 mg N,N‐bis dimethylammonium chloride (QX‐572, Astra, Sweden) as an i.v. infusion during 30 min (3 patients) or 60 min (13 patients). In the lidocaine group the arrhythmias were controlled in 6 out of 15 patients, in the QX‐572 group in 12 out of 16, a difference that is not statistically significant. However, the frequency of side‐effects was significantly higher (p<0.001) in the QX‐572 group (15 out of 16 patients) than in the lidocaine group (4 out of 15 patients). They were also more severe, including pronounced tachycardia and hypertension. It is concluded that despite the high antiarrhythmic effect of QX‐572, an increase of the lidocaine dose would be safer and preferable in the clinical situation studied.