ARTICLE: Reduced Right Ventricular Sarcomere Contractility in HFpEF with Severe Obesity
AUTHORS: M. Imran Aslam, Virginia S. Hahn, Vivek Jani, Steven Hsu, Kavita Sharma, and David A. Kass
JOURNAL: Circulation. 2020 Dec 2. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.052414
Half of heart failure patients have a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a highly morbid syndrome with very few effective treatments. HFpEF is historically associated with hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy, with myocytes displaying fibrosis-independent passive stiffening yet preserved force development at systolic calcium levels. Over the past few decades the HFpEF phenotype has become increasingly dominated by marked obesity, coinciding with a global pandemic, particularly prominent in the United States. Importantly, obesity worsens HFpEF prognosis and is associated with right ventricular dysfunction. Whether and how such clinical changes impact RV myocyte function remains unknown.
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