OBJECTIVE To investigate the relation between plasma adrenomedullin and the severity of diastolic dysfunction in patients with heart failure.

DESIGN Prospective study.

SETTING University teaching hospital.

PATIENTS 77 patients (mean (SEM) age 66.3 (1.2) years; 75% male) who were being followed in the outpatient clinic after admission to hospital for acute heart failure.

INTERVENTIONS Same day echocardiography with Doppler studies; determination of venous adrenomedullin concentration by radioimmunoassay.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Plasma adrenomedullin concentration and its correlation with systolic and diastolic function.

RESULTS 31 patients (40%) had isolated diastolic dysfunction (ejection fraction > 50%), and the remaining 46 had a depressed ejection fraction (< 50%). Of the patients with diastolic dysfunction, 17 had a restrictive filling pattern. In all but one of these there was coexisting systolic failure (χ² = 10.7, p = 0.001). Patients with systolic heart failure and a restrictive filling pattern (group 1, n = 16) had a higher plasma adrenomedullin than those with systolic failure and a non-restrictive filling pattern (group 2, n = 30) or with isolated diastolic heart failure and a non-restrictive filling pattern (group 3, n = 30) (mean (SEM): 91.7 (21.1) v 38.4 (8.8) v 34.0 (6.5) pmol/l, both p < 0.05). All heart failure values were higher (p < 0.01) than the control value (6.9 (1.2) pmol/l). Ejection fraction and left ventricular dimensions were similar in groups 1 and 2. Plasma adrenomedullin did not correlate with ejection fraction or New York Heart Association functional class. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the presence of a restrictive filling pattern was the only independent variable associated with a high plasma adrenomedullin.

CONCLUSIONS Plasma adrenomedullin concentrations in patients with heart failure are determined by the presence of diastolic dysfunction, and are especially raised in the presence of a restrictive filling pattern. There appears to be no correlation with systolic dysfunction.