A study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirms what many cardiologists have long believed - that diastolic dysfunction often tends to worsen over time, and that the presence of diastolic dysfunction is associated with the later onset of heart failure.
The investigators reported that in over 1400 patients followed for several years in the Olmsted County Heart Function Study, those who had some degree of diastolic dysfunction on their initial echocardiograms tended to show worsening of that condition on repeat echocardiograms taken four years later. Further, people who had moderate or severe diastolic dysfunction on their baseline evaluation had a significantly elevated chance of developing heart failure over the next 6 years.
While this study shows that in a large population of patients, diastolic dysfunction tends to progress over time, that result does not mean that an individual with this condition is destined to get worse. The worsening of diastolic dysfunction is associated with several conditions - including coronary artery disease, cardiac arrhythmias, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle - that are largely treatable or controllable.
So whatever the outcome may be in a large group of patients with diastolic dysfunction, any particular person within that group actually has a lot of "say" in his or her own outcome.
Sources:
Kane G, Karon B, Mahoney D, et al. Progression of left-ventricular diastolic dysfunction and risk of heart failure. JAMA 2011; 306:856-863.
