| Abstract: | Objective: The purpose of the study was to assess if non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in diabetic patients increases the risk and/or severity of diastolic dysfunction. Research design and methods: We studied 70 type 2 diabetic individuals without a history of ischemic heart disease, hepatic diseases, or excessive alcohol consumption, in whom NAFLD was diagnosed by ultrasonography. All patients had normal left ventricular systolic function and blood pressure values under medication. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction was assessed by pulsed wave Doppler and tissue Doppler imaging, studying mitral inflow patterns and E wave, E' wave velocities, E/A and E/E' ratios. Results and Conclusions: Fifty seven patients (81.43%) had NAFLD, and when compared with the other 13(18.57%) patients, age, sex, BMI, waist circumference, hypertension, smoking, diabetes duration, microvascular complication status, and medication use were not significantly different. In addition, the left ventricular (LV) mass and volumes, ejection fraction, systemic vascular resistance, arterial elasticity, and compliance were also not different. NAFLD patients had lower E' (8.42±0.89 vs.9.72±0.54, P <0.0001) tissue velocity, higher E-to-E' ratio (9.64±1.83 vs. 7.78±0.89, p<0.001), higher LV-end diastolic pressure (EDP) (15.52 ± 0.69 vs. 14.40±0.9 p <0.0001), higher LV EDP/end diastolic volume LV EDP/EDV (mmHg/ mL) (0.19 ±0.15 vs. 0.17±.02 p < 0.001) and higher glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C) (8.53±1.02 vs.7.65±0.66 p<0.01) than those without steatosis. All of these differences remained significant after adjustment for hypertension and other cardio metabolic risk factors. Our data show that in patients with type2 diabetes and NAFLD, even if the LV morphology and systolic function are preserved, early features of LV diastolic dysfunction detected. The frequency of diastolic dysfunction was significantly higher in diabetic patients with NAFLD versus controls. |
