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Relationship of Cardiac Hypertrophy and Diastolic Dysfunction Assessed by Echocardiography with Atherosclerosis in Retinal Arteries in Hypertensive Patients

Although left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction assessed by echocardiography are established risk markers of cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients, relationships between these echocardiographic findings and atherosclerosis have not been fully elucidated. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between atherosclerosis of the retinal arteries and echocardiographic findings in hypertensive patients. Forty hypertensive patients were divided into two groups according to Scheie's classification by ophthalmologists: 20 patients with stage 1 changes (visible broadening of the light reflex from the artery with minimal arteriovenous compression) and 20 patients with stage 2 changes (more prominent than those in stage 1). Standard echocardiography was performed to measure LV mass index for evaluating LV hypertrophy and conventional diastolic transmitral flow velocities for assessing LV diastolic function. Mitral annular velocities were also measured for evaluating LV diastolic function using tissue Doppler echocardiography. The LV mass index was larger in stage 2 (130 ± 39 g/m2) than stage 1 (96 ± 16 g/m2) patients (p = 0.001). Peak early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E′) was lower in stage 2 (5.9 ± 0.9 cm/s) than stage 1 (7.9 ± 1.7 cm/s) patients (p = 0.001). The optimal cutoff points for the diagnosis of Scheie stage 2 were 6.6 cm/sec for E′ (sensitivity 75%, specificity 85%) and 111 g/m2 for LV mass index (sensitivity 70%, specificity 90%). In conclusion, in hypertensive patients, the extent of atherosclerosis in the retinal arteries can be estimated by LV hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction assessed by echocardiography.