Family Physicians Often Fail to Distinguish Between Systolic and Diastolic

Family Physicians Often Fail to Distinguish Between Systolic and Diastolic Dysfunction


Martha Kerr

Oct. 9, 2003 (New Orleans) — A study of patients with heart failure cared for by family physicians revealed that 73% of the practitioners did not identify diastolic dysfunction on echocardiogram (ECG) results, even though there was evidence of it on the ECG.

Investigator Denise Sur, MD, and colleagues, from the Department of Family Medicine at the University of California David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, reviewed the charts and ECGs of 86 patients seen at their clinic. Results of the study were presented here at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) annual scientific assembly.

Evidence of diastolic dysfunction was present in 43% of patients with a diagnosis of chronic heart failure. However, "In 73% of cases, family physicians did not acknowledge that there was diastolic dysfunction on the [ECG], even though there was evidence of it," Dr. Sur told Medscape. Dr. Sur reported that the elderly were more likely to have diastolic dysfunction than younger patients with heart failure.

Can someone elaborate on the ECG differentials between Systolic and Diastolic dysfunction? - KK