Left ventricular function in Nigerian Africans with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Clinical and epidemiologic studies have suggested that patients with diabet es mellitus could develop myocardial dysfunction in the absence of epicardi al coronary artery disease, systemic hypertension, or valvular heart diseas e.(1,2) In 1972, Rubler et al(3) reported 4 patients with adult-onset diabe tes who had cardiomegaly and congestive heart failure in the absence of cor onary artery disease or hypertension. The assessment of left ventricular (L V) function as an index of potential myocardial involvement in the diabetic patient without clinical evidence of myocardial ischemia or other cardiova scular abnormalities has become increasingly important. This is particularl y true in settings like ours where diabetics with no other comorbidity fact or for heart disease rarely present with heart failure, The use of echocard iography in assessing LV dimensions and function has offered a direct metho d for obtaining quantitative assessment of myocardial function. This study evaluates LV function in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes melli tus in our environment using echocardiography with a view to determining an y cardiac morbidity.