Geographic origin as a determinant of left ventricular mass and diastolic function - the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Aims: Eastern Finns have higher risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and carotid intima-media thickness than western Finns although current differences in CHD risk factors are minimal. Left ventricular (LV) mass and diastolic function predict future cardiovascular events but their east-west differences are unknown. We examined the association of eastern/western baseline origin with LV mass and diastolic function. Methods : The study population included 2045 subjects of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study with data from the baseline survey (1980) and the latest follow-up (2011) when echocardiography was performed at the age of 34-49 years. Results: Subjects with eastern baseline origin had in 2011 higher LV mass (139 +/- 1.0 vs. 135 +/- 1.0 g, p=0.006) and E/e-ratio indicating weaker LV diastolic function (4.86 +/- 0.03 vs. 4.74 +/- 0.03, p=0.02) than western subjects. Results were independent of age, sex, area of examination and CHD risk factors such as blood pressure and BMI (LV mass indexed with height: p<0.0001; E/e-ratio: p=0.01). LV end-diastolic volume was higher among subjects with eastern baseline origin (135 +/- 0.9 vs. 131 +/- 0.9 ml, p=0.0011) but left atrial end-systolic volume, also indicating LV diastolic function, was not different between eastern and western subjects (43.4 +/- 0.5 vs. 44.0 +/- 0.5 ml, p=0.45). Most of the subjects were well within the normal limits of these echocardiographic measurements. Conclusions: In our healthy middle-aged population, geographic origin in eastern Finland associated with higher LV mass compared to western Finland. Higher E/e-ratio suggests that subjects with eastern baseline origin might have higher prevalence of diastolic dysfunction in the future than western subjects.