Impact of T2DM on right ventricular systolic dysfunction and interventricular interactions in patients with essential hypertension: evaluation using CMR tissue tracking

Background: Previous studies reported that there was right ventricular (RV) systolic dysfunction in patients with hypertension. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on RV systolic dysfunction and interventricular interactions using cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT) in patients with essential hypertension.

Methods and methods: Eighty-five hypertensive patients without T2DM [HTN(T2DM -)], 58 patients with T2DM [HTN(T2DM +)] and 49 normal controls were included in this study. The biventricular global radial, circumferential and longitudinal peak strains (GRS, GCS, GLS, respectively) and RV regional strains at the basal-, mid- and apical-cavity, were calculated with CMR-FT and compared among controls and different patient groups. Backward stepwise multivariable linear regression analyses were used to determine the effects of T2DM and left ventricular (LV) strains on RV strains.

Results: The biventricular GLS and RV apical longitudinal strain deteriorated significantly from controls, through HTN(T2DM-), to HTN(T2DM +) groups. RV middle longitudinal strain in patient groups were significantly reduced, and LV GRS and GCS and RV basal longitudinal strain were decreased in HTN(T2DM +) but preserved in HTN(T2DM-) group. Multivariable regression analyses adjusted for covariates demonstrated that T2DM was independently associated with LV strains (LV GRS: β = - 4.278, p = 0.004, model R² = 0.285; GCS: β = 1.498, p = 0.006, model R² = 0.363; GLS: β = 1.133, p = 0.007, model R² = 0.372) and RV GLS (β = 1.454, p = 0.003, model R² = 0.142) in hypertension. When T2DM and LV GLS were included in the multiple regression analysis, both T2DM and LV GLS (β = 0.977 and 0.362, p = 0.039 and < 0.001, model R² = 0.224) were independently associated with RV GLS.

Conclusions: T2DM exacerbates RV systolic dysfunction in patients with hypertension, which may be associated with superimposed LV dysfunction by coexisting T2DM and suggests adverse interventricular interactions.