Association between reduced arterial stiffness and preserved diastolic function of the left ventricle in middle-aged and elderly patients

The aim of this study was to investigate whether arterial stiffness plays a role in retaining normal diastolic function in a middle-aged and elderly Korean population. A total of 267 patients without documented cardiovascular disease, 50years and older (mean age, 57.3 +/- 6.3years; 69.8% men) were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent both transthoracic echocardiography and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity measurement on the same day. Patients with septal annular peak velocity (e') 8cm/s and left atrial volume index <34mL/m(2) were considered as having normal diastolic function. Ninety-eight patients (36.7%) had normal diastolic function. Low brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (<1314cm/s) was an independent factor for determining normal diastolic function even after controlling for potential confounders in multiple logistic regression analysis (odds ratio, 2.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.46-4.57; P=.001). Our results suggest that compliant arteries may play an important role in maintaining normal left ventricular diastolic function in middle-aged and elderly patients without documented cardiovascular disease.