Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Heart Journal logoLink to British Heart Journal
. 1988 Jun;59(6):672–679. doi: 10.1136/hrt.59.6.672

Influence of aging on Doppler echocardiographic indices of left ventricular diastolic function.

P Spirito 1, B J Maron 1
PMCID: PMC1276874  PMID: 3395525

Abstract

The influence of age on six Doppler echocardiographic indices of left ventricular diastolic function was assessed in 86 normal volunteers aged from 20 to 74 years (mean 36). Five of the six indices showed a linear relation with age. Duration of isovolumic relaxation and maximal late diastolic (atrial) flow velocity increased significantly with age (r = 0.34 and r = 0.69), respectively). Conversely, maximal early diastolic flow velocity, the rate of decrease (deceleration) of flow velocity in early diastole, and the ratio between maximal early and late diastolic flow velocities decreased significantly with age (r = -0.30, r = -0.40, and r = -0.63, respectively). Duration of the early diastolic flow velocity peak did not show a linear relation with age (r = 0.04). Comparison of Doppler indices of diastolic performance among different age groups (20 to 29 years, 30 to 49 years, and 50 to 74 years) also showed an influence of aging on these diastolic variables. Isovolumic relaxation was significantly longer in older subjects than in either the intermediate or the younger age groups. In addition, both the rate of decrease of flow velocity in early diastole and the ratio between maximal early and late diastolic flow velocities were significantly reduced in older subjects. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that after adjustment for left ventricular wall thickness and cavity dimension, percentage systolic shortening, and heart rate, age continued to correlate significantly with most Doppler indices of diastolic function. The isovolumic relaxation phase and the early and late filling phases of diastole, as assessed by Doppler echocardiography, are importantly and independently affected by aging. Hence the effects of age should be taken into account when the normal limits for Doppler indices of left ventricular diastolic function are defined.

Full text

PDF
672

Images in this article

673Fig 1
on p.673
674Fig 2
on p.674

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brutsaert D. L., Rademakers F. E., Sys S. U. Triple control of relaxation: implications in cardiac disease. Circulation. 1984 Jan;69(1):190–196. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.69.1.190. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bryg R. J., Williams G. A., Labovitz A. J. Effect of aging on left ventricular diastolic filling in normal subjects. Am J Cardiol. 1987 Apr 15;59(9):971–974. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(87)91136-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Carroll J. D., Hess O. M., Hirzel H. O., Krayenbuehl H. P. Dynamics of left ventricular filling at rest and during exercise. Circulation. 1983 Jul;68(1):59–67. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.68.1.59. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Derman U. Changes of the mitral echocardiogram with ageing and the influence of atherosclerotic risk factors. Atherosclerosis. 1972 May-Jun;15(3):349–357. doi: 10.1016/0021-9150(72)90024-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Frederiksen J. W., Weiss J. L., Weisfeldt M. L. Time constant of isovolumic pressure fall: determinants in the working left ventricle. Am J Physiol. 1978 Dec;235(6):H701–H706. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.1978.235.6.H701. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Friedman B. J., Drinkovic N., Miles H., Shih W. J., Mazzoleni A., DeMaria A. N. Assessment of left ventricular diastolic function: comparison of Doppler echocardiography and gated blood pool scintigraphy. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1986 Dec;8(6):1348–1354. doi: 10.1016/s0735-1097(86)80307-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fujii J., Yazaki Y., Sawada H., Aizawa T., Watanabe H., Kato K. Noninvasive assessment of left and right ventricular filling in myocardial infarction with a two-dimensional Doppler echocardiographic method. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1985 May;5(5):1155–1160. doi: 10.1016/s0735-1097(85)80018-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gaasch W. H., Cole J. S., Quinones M. A., Alexander J. K. Dynamic determinants of letf ventricular diastolic pressure-volume relations in man. Circulation. 1975 Feb;51(2):317–323. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.51.2.317. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gardin J. M., Henry W. L., Savage D. D., Ware J. H., Burn C., Borer J. S. Echocardiographic measurements in normal subjects: evaluation of an adult population without clinically apparent heart disease. J Clin Ultrasound. 1979 Dec;7(6):439–447. doi: 10.1002/jcu.1870070606. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Gerstenblith G., Frederiksen J., Yin F. C., Fortuin N. J., Lakatta E. G., Weisfeldt M. L. Echocardiographic assessment of a normal adult aging population. Circulation. 1977 Aug;56(2):273–278. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.56.2.273. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Glantz S. A., Parmley W. W. Factors which affect the diastolic pressure-volume curve. Circ Res. 1978 Feb;42(2):171–180. doi: 10.1161/01.res.42.2.171. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Grossman W., McLaurin L. P. Diastolic properties of the left ventricle. Ann Intern Med. 1976 Mar;84(3):316–326. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-84-3-316. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hirota Y. A clinical study of left ventricular relaxation. Circulation. 1980 Oct;62(4):756–763. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.62.4.756. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Louie E. K., Rich S., Brundage B. H. Doppler echocardiographic assessment of impaired left ventricular filling in patients with right ventricular pressure overload due to primary pulmonary hypertension. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1986 Dec;8(6):1298–1306. doi: 10.1016/s0735-1097(86)80300-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Luisada A. A., Watanabe K., Bhat P. K., Rao D. B., Knighten V. Correlates of the echocardiographic waves of the mitral valve in normal subjects of various ages. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1975 May;23(5):216–223. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1975.tb00188.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Miller T. R., Grossman S. J., Schectman K. B., Biello D. R., Ludbrook P. A., Ehsani A. A. Left ventricular diastolic filling and its association with age. Am J Cardiol. 1986 Sep 1;58(6):531–535. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(86)90028-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Miyatake K., Okamoto M., Kinoshita N., Owa M., Nakasone I., Sakakibara H., Nimura Y. Augmentation of atrial contribution to left ventricular inflow with aging as assessed by intracardiac Doppler flowmetry. Am J Cardiol. 1984 Feb 1;53(4):586–589. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(84)90035-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. O'Rourke M. F., Yaginuma T. Wave reflections and the arterial pulse. Arch Intern Med. 1984 Feb;144(2):366–371. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Rokey R., Kuo L. C., Zoghbi W. A., Limacher M. C., Quinones M. A. Determination of parameters of left ventricular diastolic filling with pulsed Doppler echocardiography: comparison with cineangiography. Circulation. 1985 Mar;71(3):543–550. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.71.3.543. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Snider A. R., Gidding S. S., Rocchini A. P., Rosenthal A., Dick M., 2nd, Crowley D. C., Peters J. Doppler evaluation of left ventricular diastolic filling in children with systemic hypertension. Am J Cardiol. 1985 Dec 1;56(15):921–926. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(85)90405-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Spirito P., Maron B. J., Bellotti P., Chiarella F., Vecchio C. Noninvasive assessment of left ventricular diastolic function: comparative analysis of pulsed Doppler ultrasound and digitized M-mode echocardiography. Am J Cardiol. 1986 Oct 1;58(9):837–843. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(86)90365-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Spirito P., Maron B. J., Bonow R. O. Noninvasive assessment of left ventricular diastolic function: comparative analysis of Doppler echocardiographic and radionuclide angiographic techniques. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1986 Mar;7(3):518–526. doi: 10.1016/s0735-1097(86)80461-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Takenaka K., Dabestani A., Gardin J. M., Russell D., Clark S., Allfie A., Henry W. L. Left ventricular filling in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: a pulsed Doppler echocardiographic study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1986 Jun;7(6):1263–1271. doi: 10.1016/s0735-1097(86)80145-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Upton M. T., Gibson D. G., Brown D. J. Echocardiographic assessment of abnormal left ventricular relaxation in man. Br Heart J. 1976 Oct;38(10):1001–1009. doi: 10.1136/hrt.38.10.1001. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Heart Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES