Age-dependent changes in regional diastolic function evaluated by color Doppler myocardial imaging: A comparison with pulsed Doppler indexes of global function

The goals of this study were to evaluate possible normal age-related change s in regional myocardial relaxation as detected by color Doppler myocardial imaging (CDMI) velocities and to compare the extent of any such changes wi th age-induced changes in global diastolic function. In 80 healthy subjects (aged 21 to 72 years, equally subdivided by decades) the mitral flow veloc ities in early diastole (E) and atrial contraction (A) were recorded as wer e the velocities of left ventricular (W) motion of early (EDV) and late dia stole (LDV) in the 16 standard LV segments, and their ratios were calculate d. in healthy persons younger than 40 years, all segments showed an EDV/LDV ratio > 1, whereas in healthy persons aged 40 years or older the mean EDV of all segments decreased, and the mean LDV increased, resulting in a signi ficant decrease of the mean EDV/LDV ratio with age. Values of EDV/LDV ratio s were higher than E/A ratios (P < .0001), but their changes with age corre lated well with each other (r = 0.805). With increasing age, an EDV/LDV rat io <1 was observed more often in basal segments (P < .001, compared with mi d and apical segments) and less often in segments of anteroseptal and poste rior walls viewed from the parasternal window. The presence of > 50% segmen ts with an EDV/LDV ratio <1 was associated with an E/A ratio <1. Regional d iastolic function indexes as evaluated by CDMI changed with increasing age in a heterogeneous way and influenced global diastolic function parameters.