Correlation Between Diastolic Dysfunction and Coronary Artery Disease on Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography

We investigated the relationship between coronary artery calcium score (CACS) and coronary artery disease (CAD) on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), and measures of left ventricular diastolic function (DD).

We included 429 consecutive patients (39% women; mean age 49 ± 12 years) without known CAD, who underwent CCTA and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) within 1-month. Evaluation of CCTA was per vessel, and per segment basis for intraluminal diameter stenosis. We also used the 16-segment model to determine overall coronary plaque burden with segment involvement score (SIS). DD on TTE was assessed using mitral inflow E wave-to-A wave ratio (EAR) and tissue Doppler early mitral annual tissue velocity axial excursion.

A total of 293 (68.4%) patients had DD, 15.4% had more than stage 2 DD. The presence of DD was associated with increasing CACS (P < 0.001). Similarly, there was a statistically significant correlation between EAR and CCS (r = -0.147, P = 0.004) and SIS (r = 0.536, P < 0.001). The prevalence of more than stage 2 DD was associated with higher prevalence of obstructive CAD (26.2% vs. 11.7%, P < 0.0001). In multivariable analyses, the independent predictors of more than stage 1 DD are the age (P < 0.001), and diabetes (P = 0.010), while the CACS and SIS were not independently associated with DD.

Our analysis suggests that CACS, as well as CAD by CCTA, are not independently associated with measures of DD on echocardiography.