Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2021 Mar 6;20(1):60.
doi: 10.1186/s12933-021-01248-z.

Sex-specific differences in left ventricular mass and myocardial energetic efficiency in non-diabetic, pre-diabetic and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic subjects

Affiliations
Observational Study

Sex-specific differences in left ventricular mass and myocardial energetic efficiency in non-diabetic, pre-diabetic and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic subjects

Elena Succurro et al. Cardiovasc Diabetol. .

Abstract

Background: Women with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) have a higher excess risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) than their male counterparts. However, whether the risk for CVD is higher in prediabetic women than men is still debated. We aimed to determine whether sex-related differences exist in left ventricular mass index (LVMI), and myocardial mechano-energetic efficiency (MEEi) in with normal glucose tolerant (NGT), pre-diabetic and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic subjects.

Methods: Sex-related differences in LVMI and myocardial MEEi, assessed by validated echocardiography-derived measures, were examined among 1562 adults with NGT, prediabetes, and newly diagnosed T2DM, defined according to fasting glucose, 2-h post-load glucose, or HbA1c.

Results: Worsening of glucose tolerance in both men and women was associated with an increase in age-adjusted LVMI and myocardial MEEi. Women with newly diagnosed T2DM exhibited greater relative differences in LVMI and myocardial MEEi than diabetic men when compared with their NGT counterparts. Prediabetic women exhibited greater relative differences in myocardial MEEi, but not in LVMI, than prediabetic men when compared with their NGT counterparts. The statistical test for interaction between sex and glucose tolerance on both LVMI (P < 0.0001), and myocardial MEEi (P < 0.0001) was significant suggesting a sex-specific association.

Conclusions: Left ventricle is subject to maladaptive changes with worsening of glucose tolerance, especially in women with newly diagnosed T2DM. The sex-specific increase in LVM and decrease in MEEi, both being predictors of CVD, may have a role in explaining the stronger impact of T2DM on the excess risk of CVD in women than in men.

Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Left ventricular mass; Myocardial mechano-energetic efficiency; Prediabetes; Sex-differences; Type 2 diabetes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The estimated marginal means of cardiovascular variables adjusted for age according to sex and glucose tolerance status. a BMI; b waist circumference; c HOMA-IR index; d systolic blood pressure; and e diastolic blood pressure
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a Mean differences in LVMI (g/m2) between prediabetic and newly diagnosed diabetic men and women as compared with their NGT counterparts; b Mean differences in myocardial MEEi (ml/s g−1) between prediabetic and newly diagnosed diabetic men and women as compared with their NGT counterparts. *P values refer to results after analyses with adjustment for age. ** P values refer to results after analyses with adjustment for age, smoking status, and antihypertensive therapy
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The estimated marginal means of cardiovascular variables adjusted for age according to sex and glucose tolerance status. a LVMI (g/m2); b myocardial MEEi (ml/s g−1)

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Peters SA, Huxley RR, Woodward M. Diabetes as a risk factor for stroke in women compared with men: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 64 cohorts, including 775,385 individuals and 12,539 strokes. Lancet. 2014;383:1973–1980. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60040-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Peters SA, Huxley RR, Woodward M. Diabetes as risk factor for incident coronary heart disease in women compared with men: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 64 cohorts including 858,507 individuals and 28,203 coronary events. Diabetologia. 2014;57(8):1542–1551. doi: 10.1007/s00125-014-3260-6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shah AD, Langenberg C, Rapsomaniki E, Denaxas S, Pujades-Rodriguez M, Gale CP, Deanfield J, Smeeth L, Timmis A, Hemingway H. Type 2 diabetes and incidence of cardiovascular diseases: a cohort study in 19 million people. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2015;3(2):105–113. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(14)70219-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fiona Bragg F, Holmes MV, Iona A, Guo Y, Du H, Chen Y, Bian Z, Yang L, Herrington W, Bennett D, Turnbull I, Liu Y, Feng S, Chen J, Clarke R, Collins R, Peto R, Li L, Chen Z. Association between diabetes and cause-specific mortality in rural and urban areas of China. JAMA. 2017;317:280–289. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.19720. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dong X, Cai R, Sun J, Huang R, Wang P, Sun H, Tian S, Wang S. Diabetes as a risk factor for acute coronary syndrome in women compared with men: a meta-analysis, including 10 856 279 individuals and 106 703 acute coronary syndrome events. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2017;33:5. doi: 10.1002/dmrr.2887. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms