Menopausal cardiomyopathy: Does it really exist? A case-control deformation imaging study

Aim: We aimed to evaluate and compare the left ventricular (LV) functions of pre- and postmenopausal women at similar ages with none of the known cardiovascular risk factors, by both conventional and advanced echocardiographic methods such as 2-D strain imaging via speckle tracking echocardiography. Methods: The study population consisted of 40 healthy postmenopausal women aged 45–50 years and 40 healthy premenopausal women of the same age group. None of the subjects had any cardiovascular risk factors and were on hormone replacement therapy. LV strain and strain rate parameters were measured by 2-D strain imaging. The main outcome measure was effect of menopause on LV function. Results: There were no significant differences between the pre- and postmenopausal groups with regard to conventional echocardiographic parameters. LV longitudinal strain and LV early diastolic strain rate values were significantly lower in the postmenopausal group when compared to the premenopausal group. Also, there was a significant negative correlation between LV global strain and serum follicle-stimulating hormone (r = –0.349, P = 0.002). Conclusion: Our study results demonstrated that healthy postmenopausal women had lower LV longitudinal strain values when compared to the healthy premenopausal women of the same age group by speckle tracking echocardiography.