BIPHASIC EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON HEART-RATE ARE INFLUENCED BY ALCOHOLICFAMILY HISTORY AND RATE OF ALCOHOL INGESTION

The present study investigated cardiac response to acute alcohol chall enge along the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) curve in two groups o f young adult nonalcoholic men with (MFH) and without (FH-) multigener ational family histories of alcoholism, matched for drinking history. BACs and resting heart rate measurements were recorded every 10 min fo r 3 hr after ingestion of a 1.0 ml/kg dose of 95% USP alcohol at two d ifferent rates: one of 20 min (slow drinking) and the other of 5 min ( fast drinking). Several analyses of variance were performed for each o f the dependent measures [BAC and heart rate change from baseline (HRC H)]. A significant risk x BAC phase interaction emerged from the HRCH analysis, indicating that the MFH group was characterized by a signifi cantly greater increase in resting heart rate along the ascending limb of the BAC curve. A significant risk x BAC phase x rate interaction i ndicated that, when alcohol was consumed at a faster rate, men with mu ltigenerational family histories of alcoholism demonstrated a greater HRCH, which persisted throughout the BAC curve.