Contribution of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction to adverse events in patients with cardiovascular diseases is increasingly being recognized and individuals with pedigree for hypertension are thought to exhibit anatomic and or functional changes in their left ventricle before they become hypertensive. This study aimed at characterizing left ventricular diastolic function in normotensive offspring of hypertensive Nigerians. Sixty-five offspring of hypertensive parents aged 15–25 years (subjects) with 65-age and sex-matched offspring of normotensive parents (controls) were studied for early makers of hypertensive cardiovascular disease using Doppler echocardiogram. Mean mitral E velocity was reduced ( ) in the subjects ( ？cm/s) compared with the controls ( ？cm/s). Similarly, mean S velocity of pulmonary venous flow was lower ( ) in the subjects than in the controls. Left atrial dimension and mitral E/A ratio in the subjects with left ventricular hypertrophy were higher ( , 0.004 respectively) than in the subjects without this abnormality. We concluded that normotensive offspring of hypertensive Nigerians showed early alterations in indexes of left ventricular diastolic filling and these abnormalities were exaggerated in the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy. 1. Introduction Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (DD) is a common problem in adult patients with systemic hypertension with prevalence ranging between 46 and 83% [1, 2]. The presence of left ventricular DD contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality in individuals with cardiovascular diseases [3]. However, the development of left ventricular DD in the time course of hypertensive cardiovascular complications has remained a matter of controversy. Some authors have suggested left ventricular DD to be the earliest manifestation of hypertensive cardiovascular disease and antedate left ventricular structural alterations [4, 5]. On the other hand, a strong association had been shown between left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and left ventricular DD in hypertensive individuals [6]. Similarly, studies in OHP that evaluated structural and/or functional changes in left ventricle had yielded conflicting results [7, 8]. In one study by Piccirillo et al., abnormalities of left ventricular diastolic function were similar in OHP and that obtained from a hypertensive population [7]. In contrast to report of Piccirillo et al., Aeschbacher and his group did not find any difference in parameters of left ventricular diastolic function between OHP and offspring of ONP at baseline [8].
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