ABSTRACT
Objective:
In the literature, the tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion/systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (TAPSE/sPAP) ratio <0.55 mm/mmHg has been expressed as a predictive risk factor for pulmonary hypertension. In addition, the TAPSE/sPAP ratio ≤0.32 mm/mmHg has been reported as a predictive risk marker for all-cause mortality. In this study, we compared patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) with healthy volunteers in terms of cardiovascular outcomes with TAPSE/sPAP ratio.
Material and Methods:
In this study, diabetic patients were compared with healthy volunteers for the TAPSE/sPAP ratio determined by transthoracic echocardiography. Echocardiographic procedures were performed by 2 different cardiologists blinded to the clinical status of the patients. The independent association between type 2 DM and TAPSE/sPAP ratio was statistically evaluated using IBM Statistics 21.
Results:
In this study, 37 diabetic patients were compared with 38 healthy controls in terms of echocardiographic parameters (total 75 patients, mean age: 67.1±9.5). 69.3% of the patients were male. body mass index values of diabetic patients were slightly elevated (28.6±4.4 vs. 27.3±4.6; p=0.154). Statistically significant decrease in ejection fraction (%) values was detected in diabetic patients (p=0.037). When diastolic functions were evaluated, the rate of diastolic dysfunction on a trend basis was higher in diabetic patients compared to controls (p=0.055). TAPSE values also tended to decrease in diabetics compared to non-diabetics (p=0.104). In addition, the estimated mean systolic pulmonary artery pressure values were found to be increased in diabetics (p<0.001). TAPSE/SPAP ratio, which was reported to be predictive of adverse cardiovascular outcomes, was found to be decreased in diabetics compared to non-diabetics (p<0.001).
Conclusions:
In this study, the TAPSE/sPAP ratio, which can be easily applied in clinical practice, was found to be lower in diabetic patients compared to non-diabetic controls. Accordingly, decreased TAPSE/SPAP ratio values in diabetic patients compared to healthy individuals may be predictive of adverse cardiovascular outcomes.