title: [The heart, the elderly, and diabetes mellitus. Epidemiologic study of 333 ambulatory clinical cases].
abstract: The paper proposes a new classification to describe the normal senile heart and its pathological forms: "small aortic heart" (nonhypertrophic-dilatative myocardiopathy and its ischemic form) and "large aortic heart" (hypertrophic-dilatative myocardiopathy and its ischemic form). The statistical distribution of 241 elderly patients with diabetes mellitus using this classification was compared to a control group of 92 elderly non-diabetic subjects. The results reveal the significant epidemiological incidence of ischemic cardiopathy with small aortic heart in diabetic patients compared to the control group in which more ischemic hypertrophic-dilatative cardiopathies were present. This observation supports the hypothesis that senile diabetic cardiopathy begins with a metabolic block with reduced contractile energy, and the overlying important ischemic component leads to the development of the small-size clinical phenotype.
authors.affiliation: II Cattedra di Geriatria e Gerontologia, Università degli Studi, Ospedale S. Santorio, Trieste.
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Tamburrini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Monte
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ponte
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vriz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*
vernacular_title: II cuore, il vecchio, il diabete. Studio epidemiologico di 333 osservazioni cliniche ambulatoriali.