Diastolic ventricular function in type 1 diabetic patients: a study using Doppler echocardiography.

The transmitral flow velocity pattern of 28 Type 1 diabetic patients and 39 age-matched healthy control subjects was studied for determination of left ventricular diastolic function. No patient had systemic hypertension, congestive heart failure, or ischaemic heart disease by clinical or electrocardiographic criteria. Echocardiographic measures of systolic ventricular function were within normal range in all subjects. The ratio of early to late transmitral peak flow velocity (ve/va) was significantly decreased in the diabetic patients (1.3 +/- 0.1 (+/- SE) vs 1.6 +/- 0.1, p less than 0.05), while other Doppler derived variables did not show any significant difference. No correlation of ve/va with duration of diabetes was found (r = -0.27), but it correlated with age in both groups (both r = -0.40, p less than 0.05). Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between ve/va and heart rate (r = -0.55 for diabetic patients, p less than 0.01; r = -0.58 for control subjects, p less than 0.01). After matching for heart rate (24 diabetic patients and 24 control subjects) no significant decrease of ve/va was observed in the diabetic group.