Abstract
Objective
To investigate the inter-relationships between left ventricular mass (LVM), left ventricular (LV) geometry and arterial stiffness parameters (aortic pulse wave velocity [Ao-PWV] and heart rate-corrected augmentation index [c-AIx]) in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).
Methods
This study was a secondary analysis of existing data that were collected from patients with CHF New York Heart Association class I-III with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) or preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Transthoracic echocardiography was performed on all patients, along with measurement of arterial stiffness parameters (Ao-PWV and c-AIx) using sphygmocardiography.
Results
A total of 73 patients (58 males) with a mean +/- SD age of 55.9 +/- 11.6 years were enrolled in this study. Of these, 20 patients (27.4%) had systemic hypertension, 46 (63.0%) had type 2 diabetes mellitus. Ischaemic heart disease was the main aetiology of CHF (63 of 73 patients; 86.3%). In multiple linear regression, the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was significantly associated with c-AIx (beta = -1.59) and EF (beta = -1.51). Comparison of Ao-PWV among the four LV geometric patterns revealed significant differences.
Conclusion
In this cohort of CHF patients, LVMI was predicted by c-AIx and EF. The corresponding values of Ao-PWV were parallel in different LV geometric patterns and confirmed their adverse prognostic values.