Korean Circ J.  2006 May;36(5):393-399. 10.4070/kcj.2006.36.5.393.

Correlations between the Left Ventricular Diastolic Function and Aortic Stiffness in Healthy Aged Subjects

• Park HY
• Lee SY
• Cho SW
• Kwon SU
• Namgung J
• Hyung J
• Lee WR

• KMID: 2227125
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4070/kcj.2006.36.5.393

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Arterial stiffness and wave reflections increase with advancing age, and the systolic and pulse pressures are elevated. These changes in aortic stiffness and pulse wave velocity with aging may change the cardiac function. The diastolic function of the left ventricle declines with aging even in normal healthy subjects too. This investigation was designed to assess the correlations between the left ventricular diastolic function and arterial stiffness with using echocardiography including doppler tissue imaging (DTI) and an applanation tonometer.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
The subjects were 100 healthy volunteers who had normal left ventricular systolic function and no major cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, obesity and smoking. The left ventricular diastolic function was assessed with the mitral inflow indexes and DTI, and the pulmonary venous return was measured by echocardiography. The central aorta blood pressure, the augmentation index (AIx) and the pulse wave velocity (PWV) were evaluated by using an applanation tonometer (SphygmoCoR system).
RESULTS
With advancing age, the left mitral E/A ratio decreased (r=-.738, p<0.05) and the DTI early/late diastolic velocity (E'/A') ratio decreased (r=-.759, p<0.05), which showed a significant change of the left ventricular diastolic function. The Aix (r=.406, p<0.05) and PWV (r=.614, p<0.05) increased with aging. The PWV correlated significantly with the E/A ratio (r=-.593, p<0.05) and the E'/A' ratio (r=-.559, p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
This study showed that increases of the large conduit vessel stiffness with aging are associated with a decline of the left ventricular diastolic function in healthy subjects.

Keyword

Age groups; Aorta; Blood flow velocity; Atherosclerosis; Diastole

MeSH Terms

Aging
Aorta
Atherosclerosis
Blood Flow Velocity
Blood Pressure
Diastole
Echocardiography
Healthy Volunteers
Heart Ventricles
Humans
Hypercholesterolemia
Hypertension
Obesity
Pulse Wave Analysis
Risk Factors
Smoke
Smoking
Vascular Stiffness*
Smoke