Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) is on the increase globally. were excluded. Left ventricular diastolic and systolic functions were assessed. Results Ninety patients (39 males and 51 females) and 90 healthy controls (39 males and 51 females) were Axitinib enrolled. Mean age of patients was 50.76 ± 9.13 years and 51.33 ± 7.84 years for controls. Mean body mass index was 26.88 ± 4.73 kg/m2 in patients and 27.09 ± 4.04 kg/m2 in controls. Mean ejection fraction was 62.4% ± 8.47% and 68.52% ± 7.94% in patients and controls respectively (< 0.001). Fourteen (15.56%) patients had ejection fraction less than 55% compared to four (4.44%) in controls (< 0.001; odds ratio = 3.96). Impaired diastolic function was found in 65.6% of patients compared to 3.3% of controls (< 0.001). Left ventricular mass index of >99 kg/m2 in females and >115 kg/m2 in males was considered abnormal. The left ventricular mass index was also higher in patients than in controls (95.17 ± 25.67 g/m2 versus 85.40 ± 18.0 g/m2; = 0.004). Conclusion Normotensive diabetic Axitinib patients have a high prevalence of left ventricular dysfunction even in the absence of cardiac symptoms = 0.66). The mean duration of diabetes was 3.43 ± 2.89 years and 83.3% (n = 75) of patients had diabetes for 5 years or less while 16.7% (n = 15) had diabetes for more than 5 years. The most frequently prescribed anti-diabetic treatment was diet and oral hypoglycemic agents in 72 (80%) patients. The majority of patients were on oral hypoglycemic agents biguanides and sulphonylureas. Only two patients (2.2%) were on diet and lifestyle measures alone while 16 (17.8%) were on diet oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin. The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures were normal in both patients and controls. The mean body mass index in both groups showed that they were overweight but there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (Table 1). Table 1 Demographic characteristic in subjects and controls The patients had a normal but significantly lower mean ejection fraction than the controls (62.4% ± 8.47% versus 68.52% ± 7.94% respectively; < 0.001) as shown in Table 2. Fourteen patients (15.6%) and four (4.4%) controls had depressed ejection fraction <55% (= 0.013; odds ratio = 3.96). The mean fractional shortening was 33.76% ± 6.20% in patients and 38.22% ± 6.10% in controls. Eleven (12.2%) of the patients and two (2.2%) controls had abnormal fractional shortening (<25% in males and <27% in females; < 0.001). Table 2 Indices of left ventricular structure and function in subjects and controls The mean early to late diastolic filling ratio (E/A ratio) in subjects was 1.03 ± 0.37 and 1.44 ± 0.29 in controls (< 0.001). Left ventricular diastolic filling pattern was abnormal in 59 (65.6%) patients and three (3.3%) controls (< 0.001). Fifty two (57.8%) patients and three (3.3%) controls had a reversed E/A ratio. Six (6.7%) patients and one (1.1%) control had a pseudo normal filling pattern. A Axitinib restrictive pattern was seen in one patient but none in the controls (Table 4). The mean isovolumic relaxation time was 124.91 ± 34.18 seconds Rabbit polyclonal to CCNB1. in the subjects and 114.56 ± 23.64 seconds in the controls and this difference was statistically Axitinib significant (< 0.001). The mean relative wall thickness was higher in patients than controls 0.475 ± 0.09 versus 0.405 ± 0.07 respectively and this difference was statistically significant (< 0.001). The mean LVMI was significantly higher in patients (95.17 ± 5.67 g/m2) compared to controls (85.40 ± 18.0 g/m2; = Axitinib 0.004; Table 2). Table 4 Comparison of number of patients and controls with normal and abnormal diastolic filling pattern Forty five (50%) patients had abnormal LVMI while 23 (25.6%) controls had abnormal LVMI and this difference was statistically significant (< 0.001; Table 3). Table 3 Comparison of number of patients Axitinib and controls with normal and abnormal left ventricular mass index The mean fasting blood sugar was 7.673 mmols/L in patients and 4.830 mmols/L in controls and this difference was statistically significant (≤ 0.05). Discussion The role of elevated blood sugar in the causation of various cardiovascular diseases has been investigated by several researchers.9 15 16 These studies have shown that DM causes structural and functional abnormalities that are independent of the effect of atherosclerosis and these abnormalities.