Layer myocardial strain is the most heritable echocardiographic trait

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Genetics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Myocardial strain analysis is crucial for assessing cardiac mechanics.
• The heritability of cardiac mechanics indices remains largely unknown.
• Understanding genetic versus environmental influences is key for personalized medicine.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the heritability of echocardiographically determined cardiac mechanics indices.
• To investigate the genetic contribution to myocardial function variability.
• To assess the heritability of layer-specific myocardial strain.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 1357 healthy subjects from the longitudinal STANISLAS cohort.
• Utilized state-of-the-art cardiac ultrasound and EACVI/ASE protocols.
• Assessed heritability using restricted maximum likelihood analysis and genome-wide association data.

Main Results:

• Low heritability (10-20%) for global longitudinal strain and ejection fraction.
• Moderate heritability (20-30%) for diastolic and standard LV function parameters.
• High heritability (65%) for the global longitudinal subendocardial/subepicardial strain ratio.

Conclusions:

• The global longitudinal subendocardial/subepicardial strain ratio is highly heritable.
• Other cardiac function parameters show limited heritability.
• Suggests potential genetic predispositions to myocardial decline, highlighting the GLSEndo/GLSEpi ratio as a biomarker.