Effects of alcohol on systemic and pulmonary hemodynamics in normal humans

Even at low doses, alcohol has been reported to impair left ventricular pump function. To characterize further the effects of alcohol on the normal cardiovascular system, using the Swan‐Ganz thermodilution catheter, we studied 6 healthy physicians, aged 27–36 years, while they were lightly intoxicated. Within a period of 30 min the subjects ingested 0.5 g/kg of ethanol diluted to 15% (w/v) in fruit juice. Hemodynamic measurements were obtained before the first ingestion and every half‐hour thereafter for 2 hours. A peak blood ethanol concentration (mean ± SE) of 13.3 ± 1.6 mmol/l (0.61 mg/dl) was recorded at 60 min. Unexpectedly, pulmonary artery pressure rose during the early part of the increasing blood ethanol phase, probably due to pulmonary vascular constriction. At 30 min, the systolic pulmonary artery pressure had increased by 10% (p