Background: Diabetic cardiomyopathy defined as either systolic or diastolic dysfunction in otherwise healthy diabetic persons is not clearly understood. The prevalence and outcomes of this disease in a community-based population have not been defined.
Methods and results: Cross-sectional survey of 2042 randomly selected residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, aged 45 years or older between June 1997 and September 2000. All patients underwent Doppler echocardiographic assessment of systolic and diastolic function. Diabetic cardiomyopathy was defined in a person with diabetes and any systolic or at least moderate diastolic dysfunction without a history of coronary disease, hypertension, significant valvular disease, or congenital heart disease. The diagnosis of diabetic cardiomyopathy was made in 23 people, corresponding to a community population prevalence rate of 1.1%. Among diabetic patients, 16.9% met criteria for diabetic cardiomyopathy and 54.4% had diastolic dysfunction. Diabetes was associated with a 1.9-fold increase in risk of any left ventricular dysfunction, a 1.7-fold increase in risk of diastolic dysfunction, and a 2.2-fold increase in risk of systolic dysfunction. Among patients with diabetic cardiomyopathy, the cumulative probability of death was 18%, development of heart failure was 22%, and development of death or heart failure was 31% at 9 years.
Conclusion: Diabetic cardiomyopathy is relatively common in the community with a prevalence of 1.1%. The morbidity and mortality of patients with diabetic cardiomyopathy is high.
Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Olmsted County; diabetic cardiomyopathy; heart failure; left ventricular dysfunction; prevalence.
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