Prevalence and significance of left ventricular filling abnormalities determined by Doppler echocardiography in young type I (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients.

In 16 insulin-dependent diabetic patients, 36 +/- 8 years old with no microangiopathy, hypertension or coronary artery disease, and 16 healthy control subjects matched for sex, age and body surface area, the following parameters were obtained by Doppler-echocardiography: (1) end-diastolic left ventricular thickness and radius; (2) aortic pulse wave velocity; (3) mitral flow with measurement of early and late (atrial) peak velocities (E and A), pressure half-time and the velocity time integrals of the entire mitral curve and of the atrial wave; and (4) isovolumic relaxation time (i.e., the time between aortic closure and the mitral opening signals recorded simultaneously by continuous-wave Doppler). Heart rate and systolic blood pressure were not different in the 2 groups. Aortic pulse wave velocity and the wall thickness to radius ratio were significantly increased in the diabetic patients compared to the controls. E was significantly reduced whereas A/E, pressure half-time, the atrial contribution to the left ventricular filling (i.e., the ratio of the atrial velocity time integral to the mitral velocity time integral) and the isovolumic relaxation time were significantly increased in the diabetic group versus the control subjects. Lastly, 11 of 16 diabetic patients (69%) had at least 2 of the following abnormalities: A/E greater than 0.71, an atrial contribution to the left ventricular filling greater than 0.25, a pressure half-time greater than 50 ms and an isovolumic relaxation time greater than 88 ms. No correlations were found between the wall thickness to radius ratio, aortic pulse wave velocity and the filling indexes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)