Evaluation of left ventricular function by tissue doppler echocardiography in obese and overweight children

Childhood obesity is the most important predictor of cardivascular diseases seen in adults. Obesity may cause left ventricular hypertrophy and deterioration of cardiac function. Tissue doppler echocardioghraphy is a new method used for evaluation of systolic and diastolic myocardial functions. Our study was conducted for determination of effects of childhood obesity on left ventricular function. We evaluated cardiac functions of 20 obese, 20 overweight, and 40 healthy children with tissue doppler echocardiography. There were no differences between groups regarding age, lenght and gender (p>0.05). Body mass index (30.92±6.87 / 22.69±2.07 / 18.21±2.22 kg/m2) was higher in obese group (p<0.01). Results of assessment with M-mode echocardiography revealed that left ventricular posterior wall and interventricular septum thickness were significantly higher in obese children compared to normal and overweight children (LVAD: 7,40±1,27 / 5,46±0,84 / 5,68±1,17 mm) (IVS: 7,29±1,37 / 5,22±0,79 / 5,62±1,16).Left ventricular late diastolic wave velocity (Am: 8,67±3,11 / 7,74±2,66 /6,79±2,21 cm/sn) measured by echocardiography values were found to be significantly higher in obese group than control group (p<0.05) . Pulse E/A values were similar between three groups .(p>0.05). Con E/A and Doppler E/A values were significantly different in obese children when compared to other two group. Con E/A and Doppler E/A values were detected to be lower in obese children (Con E/A: 1.6 ± 0.2 / 1.9± 0.4 / 1.9 ± 0.4) (Doppler E/A: 2.4 ± 0.9 / 3.0 ± 0.7 / 3.8 ± 0.9)(p<0.05).Myocardial performance index, relatively new index, that has prognostic implications in various cardiac diseases and can be used for evaluation of systolic and diastolic performance, were found to be lower in obese and overweight children compared to control group ( MPI: 0,47±0,10 / 0,39±0,12 / 0,51±0,16 ; p<0.05).In our study we determined subclinical alteration in left ventricular diastolic dysfunction using tissue doppler echocardiography. In addition myocardial performance index, showing systolic and diastolic performance and having prognostic importance for cardiac diseases, were found to be unfavorably affected in obese children.For these reasons,evaluation of left ventricular functions with tissue doppler echocardiography in addition to conventional echocardiography is fairly important for early diagnosis and treatment of impacts of obesity on cardiovascular functions. We showed deterioration of left ventricular function in obese children using tissue doppler echocardiography in our study. With more studies having higher sample sizes are being performed tissue doppler echocardiography would become a reliable and practical method that can be used during follow-up of obese children.