Arterial stiffness, carotid atherosclerosis and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in postmenopausal women
12nd Internal Medicine Clinic, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. albumed2@gmail.com
Insights
Increased arterial stiffness, measured by aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), is a significant predictor of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in postmenopausal women, independent of other risk factors.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Vascular Biology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Postmenopausal women exhibit increased cardiovascular risk due to traditional factors and arterial changes.
- Arterial stiffness and structure alterations contribute to cardiovascular morbidity in this demographic.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in postmenopausal women.
Main Methods:
- Evaluated 96 postmenopausal women without cardiovascular disease.
- Assessed aortic PWV using an oscillometric device and carotid IMT via B-mode ultrasonography.
- Left ventricular diastolic function parameters were analyzed using transthoracic echocardiography.
Main Results:
- Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) was identified in 52% of participants, all with mild dysfunction.
- Patients with LVDD showed significantly higher age, aortic PWV, carotid IMT, and plaque score.
- Logistic regression revealed aortic PWV as a significant independent predictor of LVDD after age adjustment.
Conclusions:
- Elevated aortic PWV, indicating increased arterial stiffness, is a significant marker for LVDD in postmenopausal women.
- Carotid IMT was not found to be an independent predictor of LVDD in this cohort.
- Arterial stiffness, rather than intima-media thickness, may serve as a crucial risk factor for LVDD in this population.
Background:
Postmenopausal women have an increased cardiovascular morbidity that may be due to the increase in classical cardiovascular risk factors and also to the arterial structure and function alterations. The aim of our study was to evaluate the association of aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in postmenopausal women.
Patients And Methods:
In 96 women without overt cardiovascular disease (age 62±7.7 years), and with normal left ventricular systolic function, aortic PWV was assessed by using an oscillometric device, intima-media thickness was measured by B-mode ultrasonography and the parameters of left ventricular diastolic function were evaluated by a transthoracic echocardiographic study.
Results:
LVDD, defined as an E/A ratio≤1 was found in 50 patients (52%). All of them had mild LVDD. In these patients we found significant increase in age (p<0.001), aortic PWV (p<0.001), carotid IMT (p=0.002) and plaque score (p=0.004) when compared with patients without LVDD. In a logistic regression analyzed, after adjusting for age, only aortic PWV was a significant predictor of LVDD (2.15, 95% CI 1.39-3.31, p=0.0006).
Conclusions:
This study among postmenopausal women provides evidence that increased arterial stiffness as measured by aortic PWV and not carotid IMT may be a marker or a risk factor for LVDD, independent of other classical risk factors.
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