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Journal Watch (General)
January 31, 2003
How Common Is Diastolic Dysfunction?

from Journal Watch
Physician-authored summaries and commentary
from the publishers of the New England Journal
of Medicine

Posted 02/20/2003


Summary

Diastolic dysfunction increasingly is recognized as an important cause of congestive heart failure (CHF). In this study, Mayo Clinic researchers surveyed a random sample of 2042 adults (age, 45 or older) in Minnesota to determine the prevalence of diastolic dysfunction. All subjects underwent Doppler echocardiography.

Twenty-one percent of subjects had mild diastolic dysfunction, and 7% had moderate-to-severe diastolic dysfunction; only a quarter of those with moderate-to-severe diastolic dysfunction had reduced ejection fractions (Comment

Diastolic dysfunction is common in a general adult population and often is "preclinical" (i.e., present in people not yet diagnosed with clinical CHF). Moreover, although diastolic and systolic dysfunction can coexist, most patients with diastolic dysfunction have normal ejection fractions; indeed, diastolic dysfunction predicts mortality independent of ejection fraction. According to the authors, clinical trials are in progress to determine how treatment modifies the course of diastolic heart failure.