Immediate and Complex Cardiovascular Adaptation to an Acute Alcohol Dose

Abstract

Background The detrimental effects of chronic heavy alcohol use on the cardiovascular system are well established and broadly appreciated. Integrated cardiovascular response to an acute dose of alcohol has been less studied. This study examined the early effects of an acute dose of alcohol on the cardiovascular system, with particular emphasis on system variability and sensitivity. The goal was to begin to understand how acute alcohol disrupts dynamic cardiovascular regulatory processes prior to the development of cardiovascular disease. Methods Healthy participants (N = 72, age 21 to 29) were randomly assigned to an alcohol, placebo, or no-alcohol control beverage condition. Beat-to-beat heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) were assessed during a low-demand cognitive task prior to and following beverage consumption. Between-group differences in neurocardiac response to an alcohol challenge (blood alcohol concentration ~ 0.06 mg/dl) were tested. Results The alcohol beverage group showed higher average HR, lower average stroke volume, lower HR variability and BP variability, and increased vascular tone baroreflex sensitivity after alcohol consumption. No changes were observed in the placebo group, but the control group showed slightly elevated average HR and BP after beverage consumption, possibly due to juice content. At the level of the individual, an active alcohol dose appeared to disrupt the typically tight coupling between cardiovascular processes. Conclusions A dose of alcohol quickly invoked multiple cardiovascular responses, possibly as an adaptive reaction to the acute pharmacological challenge. Future studies should assess how exposure to alcohol acutely disrupts or dissociates typically integrated neurocardiac functions.

Elevated resting heart rate is associated with several cardiovascular disease risk factors in urban-dwelling black South Africans

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Ingesting a small amount of beer reduces arterial stiffness in healthy humans

“…However, a previous study has indicated that acute ingestion of alcohol reduces BP variability, which is index of sympathetic control of vasomotor tone (Buckman et al. ). Thus, one possible mechanism underlying acute effects of beer or alcohol ingestion on arterial function may be related to the change in sympathetic control of vasomotor tone.…”

Getting to the Heart of Low Sensitivity to Alcohol: Context Moderates Low Cardiovascular Response to Alcohol in Persons With a Family History of Alcohol Use Disorder

“…We previously characterized reductions in HRV and other cardiovascular changes on the ascending limb of the blood alcohol curve as real‐time cardiovascular adaptations to alcohol challenge in healthy young drinkers such as the current sample (Buckman et al, ). These cardiovascular adaptations would be expected to alter interoceptive processes (Verdejo‐Garcia et al, ) that relay visceral information about increasing blood alcohol concentrations to the brain to bring about awareness of the phenomenal experience of intoxication, including the need to slow or increase drinking rate depending on the reason for alcohol use.…”

“…Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and baroreflex signaling are two intrinsic processes of the cardiovascular system that are major sources of HRV (deBoer et al, 1987;Hammer and Saul, 2005;Legramante et al, 1999;Vaschillo et al, 2002;Vaschillo et al, 2006;Vaschillo et al, 1983;Yasuma and Hayano, 2004). Both RSA and baroreflex signaling are sensitive to acute alcohol intoxication and chronic alcohol use behaviors (Buckman et al, 2015;Mun et al, 2008;Ralevski et al, 2019). RSA, the increase and decrease in heart rate, respectively, with inhalation and exhalation, results from the interaction between cardiovascular and respiratory systems (Grossman and Taylor, 2007;Yasuma and Hayano, 2004) and is thought to reflect parasympathetic nervous system activity.…”