Abstract
Background
The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) and arterial stiffness (AS) increases with age.
Aims
To evaluate if AS is correlated to longitudinal strain (LS), a marker of left ventricular (LV) function, in elderly AF patients with preserved ejection fraction (EF) undergoing external cardioversion.
Methods
AS was measured using the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), LS was calculated from echocardiographic data of three consecutive cardiac cycles.
Results
We enrolled 38 patients (age 76 ± 8 years; men 60.5%; EF 65 ± 7%). LS and CAVI were, respectively, − 17.7 ± 3.7% and 9.7 ± 1.3. Multivariate analysis showed that LV performance was inversely related to height (p < 0.001) and to the presence of AF-related symptoms (p = 0.008). LS grew with increasing values of CAVI (p = 0.038).
Conclusions
In elderly AF patients with preserved systolic function, LV performance is directly associated with AS. This link could influence atrium remodeling and the incidence of arrhythmia relapse.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Stefano Pedri, EE, and Angelo Sortezza, EE, by ESAOTE SpA (Italy), and Mrs. Yumiko Kato, by Fukuda Denshi (Japan), for their unconditioned help to the research project.
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All procedures were performed in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the appropriate institutional review committee.
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Fumagalli, S., Migliorini, M., Pupo, S. et al. Arterial stiffness and left ventricular performance in elderly patients with persistent atrial fibrillation. Aging Clin Exp Res 30, 1403–1408 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0935-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0935-8