title: Influence of aging on cardiac function examined by echocardiography.
abstract: We assessed the influence of aging on cardiac function by means of parameters measured by echocardiography. The study group consisted of 494 normal subjects aged 13 to 87 years. We measured the ratio of early filling (E) and atrial contraction (A) transmitral flow velocities (E/A) of left and right ventricular inflow (LV E/A and RV E/A) for assessment of diastolic function. We also measured left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and the ratio of pre-ejection period (PEP) and ejection time (ET) of the left ventricle (PEP/ET) for assessment of systolic function. Both LV E/A and RV E/A decreased significantly with aging while LVEF and PEP/ET remained normal range. The decline rate as aging was greater in LV E/A than in RV E/A. These results showed that both left and right ventricular diastolic function deteriorated with aging while left ventricular systolic function was not noticeably affected by aging. We suggest that indexes of diastolic function are more sensitive than those of systolic function when the natural course is studied in a large population.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan. m-kensa@hyper.ocn.ne.jp
authors.forename: Sachiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Namiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kudo
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Sachiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Sinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Komatsu
authors.forename: Yoshifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saijo
authors.forename: Nobuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Murayama
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D003971:Diastole; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism; D013599:Systole; D013997:Time Factors; D014261:Tricuspid Valve / Q000378:metabolism; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left