This is a rare disease, occurring in no more than 0.2 percent of the U.S. population. It can affect men and women of all ages, and symptoms can appear in childhood or adulthood. Symptoms include shortness of breath on exertion, dizziness, fainting, and angina pectoris. Some patients experience cardiac arrhythmias, which may lead to sudden death. This occurs most often in middle-aged people and more often in men than women, but has been diagnosed in people of all ages, including children.
Most patients develop congestive heart failure.
Dilated cardiomyopathy can be caused by chronic, excessive consumption of alcohol along with dietary deficiencies. It occasionally occurs as a complication of pregnancy and childbirth. Sometimes drugs used to treat a different medical condition can damage the heart and produce dilated cardiomyopathy. It usually results from another disease, which occurs elsewhere in the body. Restrictive cardiomyopathy does not appear to be inherited, but some of the diseases that lead to the condition are genetically transmitted.