[The presence of diastolic dysfunction in hypertensive patients without left ventricular hypertrophy].

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is associated with abnormalities in the diastolic left ventricular function. The present study was performed to evaluate whether diastolic function is impaired independently from myocardial hypertrophy. METHODS: 41 patients with essential hypertension who had never received antihypertensive therapy were evaluated. All patients had normal systolic function. VE wave, or early diastolic filling wave, and VA, or late diastolic filling wave, were measured by Doppler echocardiography, and the VE/VA ratio was used as index of diastolic function. RESULTS: The VE/VA ratio was abnormally reduced in 23 patients, of which only 9 had left ventricular hypertrophy on echocardiographic criteria. The patients with a reduced ratio were older (p less than 0.01) than patients with a normal ratio. VE/VA ratio was not correlated with left ventricular mass, but it was correlated with age (r = 0.4186, p less than 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Left ventricular diastolic function is impaired in hypertension independently from hypertrophy. The myocardial abnormalities associated with aging might be the major determinants of this functional impairment.