The worrisome liaison between left ventricular systolic dysfunction and mitral annulus calcification in type 2 diabetes without coronary artery disease: data from the SHORTWAVE study.

Abstract Background and Aim Mitral annulus calcification (MAC) is a marker for coronary artery disease (CAD) and predicts poor outcome in the general population. No data are available on MAC in patients with type 2 diabetes. In these patients we assessed prevalence of MAC and the relation between MAC and left ventricular (LV) systolic function. Methods and Results As many as 386 patients with type 2 diabetes without CAD were studied with Doppler echocardiography. LV systolic dysfunction was defined by analyzing 120 healthy subjects. Stress-corrected midwall shortening (sc-MS) and mitral annular peak systolic velocity (peak S′) were considered as indexes of LV circumferential and longitudinal shortening and classified low if p  = 0.01) and peak S′ (8.9 ± 2.2 vs 10.0 ± 2.0 cm/s; p p  = 0.009), larger LAV (OR 1.19 [IC 1.11–1.28], p p  = 0.001) as independent factors associated with MAC. Conclusions MAC is detectable in one fourth of patients with type 2 diabetes without CAD and is mostly related to LV systolic dysfunction expressed as combined impairment of LV circumferential and longitudinal fibers, independent of age and LAV.