Left ventricular myocardial deformation: a study on diastolic function in the Chinese male population and its...

Obesity has become an epidemic in China with its increased prevalence, especially in the male population. Disparities in fat distribution rather than increasing body mass index (BMI) confer the risk of different diseases, including cardiac abnormalities. Therefore, early detection of cardiac abnormalities is important for treatment to reverse the progression to heart failure. Nowadays, strain analysis based on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging has been established to assess myocardial function in diverse cardiac diseases. We aimed to assess the relationship between fat distribution and subclinical diastolic dysfunction in obese Chinese men assessed by deformation registration algorithm (DRA)-based myocardial strain rate (SR) analysis.

A total of 115 male participants with different BMI underwent CMR scanning using a 1.5T MAGNETOM Aera (Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany) and computed tomography (CT) scan. All the participants were enrolled from September 2017 to April 2018. They were classified into 3 groups according to their BMIs with 23 and 27.5 kg/m² being the cutoff values. A Trufi-Strain prototype software (version 2.0, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany) was used to quantify SR in both early and late diastole from CMR cine images. Ratios of early and late SRs were calculated. Areas of epicardial and pericardial adipose tissue (EAT and PAT) were measured on a single 4-chamber-view slice of cine images. Volumes of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue (VAT and SAT) were acquired semi-automatically from CT images using the dedicated software Cardiac Risk2.0 (Siemens Healthcare). Waist and hip circumferences were manually measured (WC and HC). Analysis of variance or nonparametric tests, along with correlation and stepwise multivariate regression analysis models, was applied for statistical analysis.

Peak late diastolic SRs were higher in obese men compared with their lean counterparts [-36.25±10.46 vs. -29.46±8.17, 66.97±18.58 vs. 45.62 (42.44, 55.96), and 56.81±15.07 vs. 41.40±6.41 for radial, circumferential, and longitudinal SRs, respectively; P<0.05]. All SR ratios in the obese subgroups were lower than those of lean men (3.12±1.14 vs. 4.63±1.24, 2.12±0.58 vs. 2.96±0.62 and 1.63±0.50 vs. 2.20±0.63 for radial, circumferential, and longitudinal directions, respectively; P<0.05). EAT was a significant predictor of diastolic function assessed by radial and circumferential SR ratios (β=-0.439 and -0.337 respectively; all P<0.001), while VAT was a significant predictor of circumferential and longitudinal SR ratios (β=-0.216 and -0.355, respectively, P<0.05).

Decreased LV diastolic function assessed by DRA-based SR analysis in obesity is associated with fat distribution. Furthermore, EAT and VAT might be better predictors of a decrease of diastolic function in obese Chinese men than BMI.