Cardiac Remodeling and Its Biomarkers in Overweight Adolescents

Background. Cardiac remodeling (CR) is complex process involving cardiac myocyte growth and death. Impaired subclinical ventricular function may contribute to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in obesity. The longitudinal left ventricle (LV) strain and strain rate (SR) are accurate methods to study the early effects of overweight in the preclinical findings than traditional LV ejection fraction.

Objectives. To study the effects of overweight on LV longitudinal strain, SR and the CR biomarkers.

Methods. Using the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) interpretation of Body Mass Index (BMI), 105 children; at 7^th and 11^th grades were consented and divided as 53 normal (5^th to <85^th centiles) and 52 overweight (>85^th centiles). LV longitudinal strain and SR performed by 2D speckle tracking echocardiography (STE). Blood samples for CR biomarkers were done.

Results. The significant differences of LV longitudinal strain and SR between both groups were; 19.46±0.53 vz 20.6±0.52, p<0.05, and 1.14±0.02 vz 1.2±0.04, p

Conclusion. The overweight problem is associated with preclinical longitudinal LV myocardial dysfunction and correlated with biomarkers of CR, which can provide subclinical markers for the emergence of future obesity related cardiac diseases.