Cited 16 times since 2010 (1.2 per year) source: EuropePMC European journal of echocardiography : the journal of the Working Group on Echocardiography of the European Society of Cardiology, Volume 12, Issue 2, 24 4 2010, Pages 148-155 Subclinical left ventricular dysfunction and coronary atherosclerosis in asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes. Scholte AJ, Nucifora G, Delgado V, Djaberi R, Boogers MJ, Schuijf JD, Kharagjitsingh AV, Jukema JW, van der Wall EE, Kroft LJ, de Roos A, Bax JJ

Aims

The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether subclinical left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction is independently related to subclinical coronary atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetic patients and if it could provide incremental information over baseline characteristics to identify high-risk patients.

Methods and results

A total of 234 asymptomatic, type 2 diabetic patients without overt LV systolic dysfunction underwent coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring and two-dimensional echocardiography. The LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) was assessed using automated function imaging. Patients with coronary atherosclerosis (CAC > 0; n = 139) had more impaired GLS when compared with patients without coronary atherosclerosis (CAC = 0; n = 95; -18.0 ± 2.8 vs. -16.3 ± 3.0%, P < 0.001). At multivariate analysis, male gender, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, and the LV GLS were independently associated with coronary atherosclerosis. The addition of the LV GLS to other selected independent clinical variables significantly improved the ability to predict coronary atherosclerosis in these patients (χ(2) = 58.92; P = 0.001).

Conclusion

Type 2 diabetic patients with coronary atherosclerosis showed a more impaired LV GLS compared with patients without coronary atherosclerosis. The presence of subclinical LV systolic dysfunction provides significant incremental value for the identification of diabetic patients having coronary atherosclerosis.

Eur J Echocardiogr. 2010 11;12(2):148-155