Pre-clinical diabetic cardiomyopathy: prevalence, screening, and outcome.

Aims: Diabetic cardiomyopathy, characterized by left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and LV hypertrophy independent of myocardial ischaemia and hypertension, could contribute to the increased life-time risk of congestive heart failure seen in patients with diabetes. We assessed prospectively the prevalence, effectiveness of screening methods [brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and C-reactive protein in combination with clinical parameters], and outcome of pre-clinical diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Methods And Results: We studied 100 adults (mean age 57.