Influences of Hypertension and Diabetes on Normal Age-Related Changes in Left Ventricular Function as Assessed by Tissue Doppler Echocardiography

Although the impact of hypertension (HT) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) on left ventricular (LV) function has recently been studied using tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE), there are few studies discriminating between the impact of the disease and that of normal aging on LV function. The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the LV function in patients with HT and DM in various age strata in order to assess the independent roles of HT and DM on normal age-related changes in cardiac function. The population of the study consisted of four groups: 20 control subjects (Control), 20 patients with hypertension alone (HTN), 20 patients with type 2 diabetes alone (DM), and 20 patients with both hypertension and diabetes (HTN+DM) in each of five age strata—the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. The strain and strain rate, which reflected both LV systolic and diastolic function, were assessed by TDE. The strain and strain rate decreased with advancing age in healthy control subjects and in all the patient ...