Introduction: The study aimed to evaluate the relationship between plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) concentration and development of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in patients with essential hypertension (EH). Moreover, an attempt was made to define independent risk factors of LVDD in patients with EH.
Material and methods: A group of 106 individuals with EH was obtained (mean age: 47.18 ±11.76 years). Two groups of patients were distinguished: group I – individuals with EH with LVDD (n = 57); group II – persons with EH without LVDD (n = 49). Echocardiographic examination was conducted by the transthoracic technique. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to measure dimethylarginine concentrations.
Results: In the group suffering from EH with LVDD, mean ADMA concentration was significantly higher and the ratio of arginine to ADMA was significantly lower than in patients with EH without LVDD. No significant differences were detected between mean concentrations of plasma symmetric dimethylarginine concentration (SDMA) and arginine or in arginine/SDMA ratios in the studied groups. Independent factors of LVDD risk in the study group included higher plasma ADMA concentration, higher serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) concentration, higher values of body mass index (BMI), higher values of left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and higher values of mean blood pressure (mBP) (OR_ADMA = 1.731; OR_LDL = 1.188; OR_BMI = 1.056; OR_LVMI = 1.062; OR_mBP = 1.014; p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The results of this study showed that ADMA concentration may be of prognostic value in relation to manifestation of LVDD in patients with EH.