Efficacy evaluation of serum galectin-3 in hypertension complicated with diastolic dysfunction

Serum galectin-3 (Gal-3) in patients with hypertension complicated with diastolic dysfunction and its predictive value for efficacy were investigated. One hundred patients with hypertension complicated with diastolic dysfunction admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University from June 2017 to December 2018 were enrolled as group A, symptomatically treated with conventional drugs. Further 80 individuals undergoing physical examination during the same period were enrolled as group B. Patients in the two groups were subjected to echocardiography to observe mitral valve early peak flow velocity (EPFV), atrial peak flow velocity (APFV), maximum flow velocity ratio of early to atrial diastole (EPFV/APFV) and peak mitral annulus velocity (E/E′). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect serum Gal-3 concentration. According to efficacy after treatment, patients in group A were divided into the effective group (71 patients) and the invalid group (29 patients). Gal-3 concentration in group A was significantly higher than that in group B (P<0.05). After treatment, the concentration in group A was significantly lower than that before treatment (P<0.05), but significantly higher than that in group B (P<0.05). Gal-3 concentration was significantly higher in patients with cardiac function grades II, III and IV than that in patients with grade I (P<0.05). According to Spearman's test, Gal-3 concentration was positively correlated with cardiac function grading (r=0.569, P<0.001). Compared with before treatment in group A, patients after treatment had significantly higher EPFV and EPFV/APFV (P<0.05), but significantly lower APFV and E/E′ (P<0.05). Before treatment, Gal-3 concentration in the effective group was significantly lower than that in the invalid group (P<0.05). According to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the area under curve (AUC) of Gal-3 concentration for evaluating efficacy was 0.792, the sensitivity was 73.24%, and the specificity was 79.31%. In conclusion, Gal-3 may be involved in the development and progression of hypertension complicated with diastolic dysfunction. Its concentration increases with the rise of cardiac function grading but significantly decreases after treatment. Therefore, Gal-3 concentration before treatment can be used as a potential predictor of efficacy.