Background: Type 1 diabetic children have echocardiographic evidence of subtle RV and LV dysfunction with delayed myocardial relaxation. Thus, it is important to evaluate the cardiac function in children with T1D by conventional echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), for early detection of this dysfunction.
Aim and objectives: this work aims to assess cardiac function in children with type 1 Diabetes Mellites using different modalities of echocardiography.
Patients and methods: This case control study was conducted on 70 children attending the Outpatient pediatric clinic, and Clinics of Pediatric cardiology and endocrinology, Al-Hussein University Hospital in Cairo; in the period from the beginning of July 2021 to the end of November 2021.The recruited children were randomly assigned into two groups:
Patient Group: included 50 children with type 1 diabetes mellitus. They were defined according to the American Diabetes Association criteria for diagnosis and classification of diabetes. Patients were selected randomly from outpatient pediatric clinics in Al Hussein University hospital. 26 were males and 24 were female's patient ages ranged from 2-18 years old.
Control Group: included 20 healthy (10 boys and 10 girls) children (2-18 years old).
The study was approved by the ethical committee of the faculty of medicine, Al-Azhar University. Informed parental consent from one of the parents was obtained before enrollment in this study.
Results: Patients had significantly lower mitral and tricuspid E and A waves velocity (p value 0.000, 0.001, 0.000, and 0.000, respectively). Patients had significantly lower A' and E' velocities of the RV and S' velocity of the LV (p value 0.016, 0.022 and 0.006 respectively). They also had significantly longer IRT (p value 0.000), and higher MPI of the RV (p value 0.007), larger LVIDd and LVIDs diameters and increased IVS and LVPW thickness in comparison to the controls (p value 0.00, 0.00, 0.004 and 0.001, respectively).
Conclusion: Type 1 diabetic children have echocardiographic evidence of subtle RV and LV dysfunction with delayed myocardial relaxation. TDI has an additional value in evaluating ventricular filling. This highlights the importance of periodic cardiac evaluation with both conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography for early detection of this dysfunction