title: Impact of heart rate and PR interval on Doppler indexes of left ventricular diastolic filling in an elderly cohort (the Framingham Heart Study).
abstract: The relations of heart rate and PR interval to Doppler-derived diastolic indexes were examined in 260 men (mean age 75 years) and 462 women (mean age 76 years) from the Framingham Heart Study. Subjects receiving any antihypertensive or cardiac medications were excluded from eligibility; those with mitral stenosis or prosthesis, pacemaker, atrial fibrillation, arrhythmia, left bundle branch block, congestive heart failure, previous myocardial infarction, and technically inadequate Doppler study were also excluded. Peak velocity of early (E) and late (A) diastolic left ventricular (LV) filling, ratio of peak velocities E/A, ratio of time velocity integrals E/A, and atrial filling fraction were studied by multivariable analyses adjusting for age, sex, blood pressure, heart rate and PR interval. Heart rate was a major determinant of all 5 Doppler indexes of diastolic filling; heart rate was inversely associated with peak velocity E, E/A, and time velocity integral E/A, and was directly associated with peak velocity A and atrial filling fraction. PR interval was inversely associated with time velocity integral E/A (p < 0.01) and directly associated with atrial filling fraction. The results were largely unaltered after further adjustment for LV wall thickness, LV end-diastolic diameter and left atrial diameter (in addition to age, sex and blood pressure). Heart rate and PR interval are independent contributors to Doppler-assessed LV diastolic filling in the elderly. The atrial contribution to LV filling depends on its timing in the cardiac cycle and on heart rate. Failure to account for heart rate and PR interval may lead to inappropriate assessment of Doppler diastolic filling.
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Massachusetts 01701.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galderisi
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Benjamin
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: D'Agostino
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lehman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Levy
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003971:Diastole / Q000502:physiology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*