Background: Hypertension impairs left ventricular (LV) diastolic and systolic function, which might be aggravated by inflammation or neurohumoral activation. We hypothesized that LV diastolic dysfunction is more common in patients with renovascular hypertension (RVHT) compared with essential hypertension (EHT).
Methods: Hypertensive patients who underwent both renal imaging to exclude RVHT and cardiac echocardiography within a 3-year period were identified retrospectively. Patients with significant renovascular disease were included in the RVHT group (n = 75); those without significant renovascular disease were included in the EHT group (n = 69). Cardiac function and structure were compared.
Results: Baseline renal function was preserved (serum creatinine ≤ 2mg/dl) in EHT patients and impaired (serum creatinine > 2mg/dl) in only 9 RVHT patients. RVHT patients had higher systolic blood pressure, E/e' ratio, and greater prevalence of concentric hypertrophy but lower estimated glomerular-filtration-rate (eGFR) compared with EHT patients. Increased prevalence of LV diastolic dysfunction remained statistically significant in patients with RVHT after multivariable adjustment for age, sex, blood pressure, eGFR, diabetes, smoking, and statin use, with a relative risk (95% CI) for abnormal E/e' of 1.70 (95% confidence interval = 1.05-2.90; P = 0.03) compared with EHT. RVHT patients with severe renal dysfunction showed greater impairments in cardiac systolic and diastolic function compared with those in EHT patients or preserved renal function RVHT patients.
Conclusions: Among hypertensive patients undergoing echocardiography, cardiac structure and diastolic function are impaired in RVHT patients compared with EHT patients and remain different after adjustment for multiple significant covariables. When associated with significant renal dysfunction, RVHT aggravates LV hypertrophy and both systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Hence, identification of RVHT and renal dysfunction warrants development of targeted management strategies.
Keywords: blood pressure; diastolic function; hypertension; left ventricular hypertrophy; renovascular hypertension..