Prevalence of suspected diastolic dysfunction in patients with a clinical diagnosis of congestive heart failure.
BACKGROUND
The prevalence of diastolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in a population presenting with a suspected diagnosis of congestive heart failure (CHF) is questionable and widely variable in the current literature. To minimize the disparity, we evaluated a large echocardiographic database to investigate the prevalence of systolic and suspected diastolic LV dysfunction in those with a suspected clinical diagnosis of CHF.


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed echocardiograms performed at our institution and evaluated the prevalence of abnormal LV systolic and diastolic function in those with a suspected clinical diagnosis of CHF. Diastolic dysfunction was defined as the presence of left atrial enlargement, left ventricular hypertrophy and reverse trans-mitral inflow ratio (E/A reversal).


RESULTS
Of the 636 echocardiograms with CHF as the primary diagnosis, 461 had measured LV function. Normal LV systolic function were found in 238 of the patients (48%). Isolated diastolic LV dysfunction was found in 166 patients (36%). Twelve percent of the patients with a suspected clinical diagnosis of CHF had normal LV systolic and diastolic function.


CONCLUSIONS
Normal LV systolic function was seen in nearly one-half of the echocardiograms with a suspected clinical diagnosis of CHF. Suspected LV diastolic dysfunction was observed in one-third of the echocardiograms with a suspected clinical diagnosis of CHF.
Movahed
Mohammad-Reza
MR
Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of California, Irvine Medical Center, CA 92868, USA. mmohaved@uci.edu
Ahmadi-Kashani
Mastaneh
M
Saito
Yuji
Y
D003971:Diastole; D004452:Echocardiography; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013318:Stroke Volume; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left