Early Adulthood Obesity Impact on Left and Right Ventricular Function Assessed by Speckle Tracking Echocardiography

Abstract

Background: With the increased prevalence of obesity worldwide, even in young adults with a lack of data on its effect on cardiac  function in these age groups, the need to detect the possible changes in cardiac function with different degrees of obesity has emerged.

Objective: We aimed to use 2-dimensional (2D) deformation imaging to evaluate the potential changes in cardiac function in variable degrees of obesity.

Patients and methods: Our study is a single-center observational study. During the study period between  September 2022 and September 2023, 323 volunteers without evidence of metabolic syndrome in their first decade of adulthood (18 to 30  years of age) with a BMI more than 25 kg/m2 were evaluated at the Cardiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University.  123 cases were excluded due to the presence of significant valvular disease (n=53), atrial fibrillation (n= 36), systolic heart failure (n= 27),  and poor image quality (n=7). Finally, the study included 200 patients as follows: Overweight (n=100) and obese (n=100). Forty  participants were enrolled (n=40) as a control group. Conventional and speckle-tracking echocardiography evaluated the right (RV) and  the left ventricle (LV) function and global longitudinal strain (GLS).

Results: No noticeable differences were detected among the groups  regarding conventional functional and dimensional echocardiographic parameters. However, significant differences between the groups  were noticed regarding 2D speckle tracking of RV global longitudinal strain (GLS), RV free-wall strain, and LV GLS (p<0.001), with worse  deformation in obese subjects.

Conclusion: Obesity, even in younger ages without metabolic syndrome, is hazardous to LV and RV  function, represented by worse myocardial deformation. This finding could be used in risk stratification of obese young individuals.