Association between diabetic nephropathy and left ventricular longitudinal myocardial function in type 1 diabetes mellitus patients with preserved ejection fraction.

Left ventricular (LV) longitudinal myocardial dysfunction can be observed even in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) (T2DM) patients with preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF), and is considered the earliest marker of DM-related cardiac dysfunction. Furthermore, diabetic nephropathy (DN), a common complication in DM, is strongly associated with LV longitudinal myocardial function in T2DM patients, but its association with type 1 DM (T1DM) has not been fully investigated. We studied 125 asymptomatic T1DM patients with preserved LVEF, and 75 age-, gender-, LVEF-matched non-diabetic healthy controls. Two-dimensional speckle-tracking strain LV was used to assess longitudinal myocardial function as global longitudinal strain (GLS). GLS of T1DM patients was significantly lower than that of normal controls (19.7 ± 3.6% vs. 20.6 ± 1.8%, P = 0.049). GLS of T1DM patients with DN was significantly lower that of T1DM patients without DN (17.3 ± 3.7% vs. 20.2 ± 3.5%, P < 0.001), but that of T1DM patients without DN was similar compared to normal controls (20.6 ± 1.8% vs. 20.2 ± 3.5%, P = 0.37). Moreover, multiple regression analysis identified DN the independent determinant parameters for GLS of T1DM patients also correlated significantly with duration of T1DM. Impaired LV longitudinal myocardial function was observed in asymptomatic T1DM patients with preserved LVEF, and DN was associated with LV longitudinal myocardial dysfunction. These findings are clinically useful for better management of T1DM patients to prevent impending development of cardiovascular disease.