Impact of Obesity on Left Atrial Functions in Normal Hearts

Background: Impaired subclinical left atrial (LA) function may contribute to the risk of cardiovascular disease in obesity. Aim of Study: To highlight the effect of obesity on LA strain in patients with a structurally normal heart. Subjects and Methods: This is a prospective case-control study performed in El Demerdash Hospital echocardiography unit. This study included fifty nonobese subjects (BMI <30kg/m 2 ) as controls, and the other 50 obese subjects (BMI >30kg/m 2 ) as cases. Results: On assessing left atrial measurements and functions, max and min LA volume by Biplane method by Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE), indexed volumes and LA EF by Biplane method showed no significant difference between the non-obese group and obese group ( p >0.05). Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding all the LA strain values ( p >0.05). Conclusion: Obesity has no effect on the LA reservoir, contractile, or conduct strain by 2D speckle-tracking.