Association of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction with elevated NT-proBNP in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with preserved ejection fraction: The supplemantary role of tissue doppler imaging parameters and NT-proBNP levels

Background: Early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients may be important to introduce treatment early. Echocardiography is a method used to show the ventricular functions. A ventricular hormone, BNP is used to identify the changes in the ventricular function in early period. NT-proBNP which is a more stable compound with a longer half-life is used in measurement of BNP. Methods: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) was detected and NT-proBNP levels were measured in forty-four asymptomatic patients with ages of 30-70 and type 2 DM and control group consisted of 40 healthy individuals from the same age group. Results: NT-proBNP levels were found as 566.7 +/- 738.5 pg/ml in the diabetics with LVDD detected, 166.3 +/- 137.1 pg/ml in the diabetics without LVDD and 134.5 +/- 77.2 pg/ml in the control group. Levels of NT-proBNP were significantly higher in the group with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (p < 0.05). However, when the levels of NT-proBNP in the diabetic patients without LVDD were compared with the controls, the difference was not significant (p > 0.05). NT-proBNP levels were found significantly higher in LVDD group compared to the controls without a difference between the ejection fractions (p < 0.05). Conclusion: High levels of NT-proBNP was correlated tissue Doppler echocardiography findings in type 2 DM patients with preserved ejection fraction. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.