Effect of aging on left ventricular filling in untreated hypertensive patients

Aging and transmitral flow pattern in patients with systemic hypertension

PURPOSE

Currently, the transmitral flow (TMF) pattern is routinely recorded as the first step in the assessment of left ventricular diastolic function. In young, healthy subjects, it is known that the early diastolic flow (E wave) of TMF is larger than the late diastolic flow (A wave). The E/A ratio then gradually decreases with age. This change in the pattern of TMF can be expected to occur earlier in patients with systemic hypertension than in healthy subjects. However, data pertaining to this matter are limited for Japanese patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changing pattern of TMF with age in Japanese patients with systemic hypertension.

METHODS

A database of echocardiographic examination reports was surveyed. A total of 553 patients with systemic hypertension (HT group) and 394 patients without hypertension or organic heart disease (control group) were included in this study. The patients were subdivided according to age, after which the E/A ratio was compared for different patient categories and age groups.

RESULTS

The E/A ratio gradually decreased with age in the control group, and the mean value of E/A was <1 in the sixth decade. On the other hand, the E/A ratio rapidly decreased and was <1 in the fifth decade in the HT group.

CONCLUSION

In patients in the HT group, the E/A ratio decreased about a decade earlier compared with patients in the control group.

Heart function in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis and mildly to moderately impaired renal function. An echocardiographic study

Left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic heart dysfunction have been reported in essential hypertension and in patients with chronic renal failure, treated with haemodialysis, but a close association with blood pressure (BP) level has not been uniformly documented. Thus, other factors could be involved in the pathogenesis of cardiac dysfunction. The aims of the present echocardiographic study were to investigate cardiac morphology and function in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis with mildly to moderately impaired renal function, and to study the relation between echocardiographic findings and glomerular filtration rate (GFR), BP and age. Twenty patients with chronic glomerulonephritis and 14 healthy controls, of the same age- and sex-distribution, were examined by 2D-, M-mode and pulsed-wave Doppler echocardiography. In patients, GFR was determined as plasma clearance of Cr-EDTA. The patients had significantly thicker left ventricular (LV) posterior walls in end diastole (8.7 vs 8.1 mm, p < 0.05), and a higher LV mass index (106.5 vs 93.8 g/m2, p < 0.05). Systolic functional indices, i.e. LV fractional shortening and LV ejection fraction, were statistically significantly lower in patients than in controls (p < 0.05). LV diastolic function in patients was characterized by a statistically significantly lower early peak flow velocity (E-Vmax) (0.66 compared with 0.8 m/s) and early to late peak flow velocity ratio (E/A ratio) (1.07 vs 1.41), as well as E/A ratio of time velocity indices (VTI-E/A) (1.45 vs 1.99) (p < 0.05). The right ventricular filling indices showed a tendency towards a lower E-Vmax in patients (0.55 compared with 0.62 m/s, p = 0.1). In patients, statistically significant negative correlations were found between age and mitral E/A ratio (r = -0.76, p < 0.0001), as well as LV VTI-E/A(r = -0.81, p < 0.0001). The same trend was seen for the tricuspid E/A ratio. No statistically significant correlations were found in patients between mitral or tricuspid E/A ratio and GFR, BP, LV mass or heart rate.

IN CONCLUSION

in a group of patients with chronic glomerulonephritis and mildly to moderately impaired renal function, it was found by means of echocardiography that there was a higher LV mass index and decreased systolic function, when compared with healthy controls. In addition, the patients had diastolic dysfunction of primarily the left ventricle. The echocardiographic findings were not correlated to BP level or renal function. This suggests that factors other than GFR or BP per se might be involved in the pathogenesis of cardiac dysfunction, at an early stage.