Left Ventricular Global Longitudinal Strain: an Early Marker of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Background:

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) leads to abnormal myocardial structure and function in the absence of cardiac risk factors. Screening in the pre-clinical phase is not well established. Global longitudinal strain (GLS) has been measured as an important echocardiography parameter in asymptomatic patients.

Objective:

To describe the presence of early parameters of DCM in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) without cardiovascular disease and to compare results against 2 control groups (CT groups).

Methods:

A total of 58 patients were divided into the following 3 groups: T2DM (n = 20); heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) without T2DM (n = 19); and control without T2DM or HFpEF (n = 19). Patients with cardiovascular disease and those using SGLT2 inhibitors, pioglitazone or saxagliptin were excluded.

Results:

The mean overall prevalence of GLS was 16% (standard deviation [SD] ± 2.9), and 41% of participants had abnormal values, comprising 10 (50%) patients from the T2DM, 11 (58%) from the HFpEF, and 3 (16%) from the CT groups (p = 0.019). Mean GLS values in the T2DM, HFpEF, and CT groups were 16.1%, 14.8%, and 17.5%, respectively (p = 0.015). There was a negative moderate association between HbA1c levels and GLS values in the T2DM group (p = 0.043).

Conclusions:

GLS proved to be a potential early marker of left ventricular (LV) cardiac changes in patients with T2DM, given the similarity between this patient group and the HFpEF group studied.