Affiliation:
1. From the Departments of Internal Medicine/Cardiology (J.Y., C.J.R., B.S., J.J.C., W.G.H., D.M.H.), and Epidemiology and Prevention (J.Y., C.J.R., J.J.C.), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC; Cardiology and Radiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (J.A.L.); National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (S.L.); and Division of Radiologic Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC (J.J.C., W.G.H.).
Abstract
Background—
Limited data exist on the prevalence, associations, and prognosis of individuals with asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ALVSD), especially in populations without previous clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Methods and Results—
Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard analyses were used to assess the association between ALVSD, defined as left ventricular ejection fraction <50%, and adjudicated incident congestive heart failure (CHF), all-cause mortality, and CVD events. Of 5004 participants, 112 participants had CHF, 321 had a CVD event, and 278 died after 9 years of follow-up. The overall prevalence of ALVSD was 1.7%, with a higher prevalence in blacks (2.6%). ALVSD had a worse cardiovascular risk profile and was also associated with increased risk in unadjusted and adjusted models for incident CHF (HR [hazard ratio] [95% CI {confidence interval}]: 12.0 [7.04–20.3],
P
<0.0001 and 8.69 [4.89–15.45],
P
<0.001 respectively), CVD (HR [95% CI]: 3.32 [1.98–5.58],
P
<0.001 and 2.21 [1.30–3.73],
P
=0.003 respectively), and all-cause mortality (HR [95% CI]: 3.47 [2.03–5.94],
P
<0.0001 and 2.00 [1.13–3.54],
P
=0.017, respectively). A 10% decrement in left ventricular ejection fraction at baseline was associated with an increase in risk in unadjusted and adjusted models for clinical CHF (HR [95% CI]: 2.17 [1.82–2.63],
P
<0.0001 and 2.13 [1.73–2.51],
P
<0.001, respectively) and all-cause mortality (HR [95% CI]: 1.22 [1.05–1.41],
P
=0.009 and 1.17 [1.00–1.36],
P
=0.047, respectively). Among the subset of participants with ALVSD, the left ventricular mass index was particularly informative about risk for incident CHF (c-index=0.74).
Conclusions—
ALVSD is uncommon in individuals without previous clinical CVD, but it is associated with high risk for CHF, CVD, and all-cause mortality. The left ventricular mass index had good discrimination for incident CHF in Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) participants with ALVSD.
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Subject
Physiology (medical),Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine