Left ventricular dysfunction in COPD without pulmonary hypertension

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess prevalence of left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function in stable cohort of COPD patients, where LV disease had been thoroughly excluded in advance. METHODS: 100 COPD outpatients in GOLD II-IV and 34 controls were included. Patients were divided by invasive mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) in COPD-PH (≥25 mmHg) and COPD-non-PH (<25 mmHg), which was subdivided in mPAP ≤20 mmHg and 21–24 mmHg. LV myocardial performance index (LV MPI) and strain by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) were used for evaluation of LV global and systolic function, respectively. LV MPI ≥0.51 and strain ≤-15.8% were considered abnormal. LV diastolic function was assessed by the ratio between peak early (E) and late (A) velocity, early TDI E´, E/E´, isovolumic relaxation time, and left atrium volume. RESULTS: LV MPI ≥0.51 was found in 64.9% and 88.5% and LV strain ≤-15.8% in 62.2.% and 76.9% in the COPD-non-PH and COPD-PH patients, respectively. Similarly, LV MPI and LV strain were impaired even in patients with mPAP <20 mmHg. In multiple regression analyses, residual volume and stroke volume were best associated to LV MPI and LV strain, respectively. Except for isovolumic relaxation time, standard diastolic echo indices as E/A, E´, E/E´ and left atrium volume did not change from normal individuals to COPD-non-PH. CONCLUSIONS: Subclinical LV systolic dysfunction was a frequent finding in this cohort of COPD patients, even in those with normal pulmonary artery pressure. Evidence of LV diastolic dysfunction was hardly present as measured by conventional echo indices.