Right ventricular diastolic dysfunction in asthmatic patients

Asthmatic patients develop right heart affection from early stages through different mechanisms. The current study was performed aiming to assess the right ventricular diastolic dysfunction in different asthmatic stages. The study population was fifty persons subdivided into 30 asthmatic adults and 20 healthy control subjects.Results showed that the prevalence of right ventricular dilatation was statistically higher among asthmatic adults (66%) than controls (0%). Also, there was a significant elevation of the mean value of ESPAP among asthmatic adults (24 ± 7.18) than the control group (17.8 ± 4.98) (P < 0.05). In addition the mean value of RVEDD was significantly higher among asthmatic adults (17.47 ± 4.51 cm) compared to control subjects (14.54 ± 3.15 cm) (P < 0.05). Also, a more deleterious effect was found that severe asthmatic cases suffered more impairment in diastolic functions of the right ventricle than mild and moderate cases, which means that patients with bronchial asthma have right ventricular diastolic dysfunction and the degree of this dysfunction is related to the severity of the disease.