RESULTS
A total of 88 patients were included in this study. The mean age of patients was 45.30 ± 11.50 years, ranging from 21 to 82 years. In terms of sex distribution, 37 cases (42.0%) were male and 51 cases (58.0%) were female. All patients were non-diabetic. Overall, 41 (46.6%) were normotensive and 47 (53.4%) were hypertensive. The prevalence of diastolic dysfunction was estimated to be 41 (46.6%) considering E/A <1.0 or declaration time>250 msec.
In a subgroup of patients with diastolic dysfunction, among all echocardiographic parameters, the hypertensive patients had significantly higher mean left ventricular mass index , higher mean interventricular septal (IVS) thickness, as well as higher mean posterior wall (PW) thickness. Hypertensive group had significantly lower mean global longitudinal strain  (GLS) in mid myocardial and epicardial layers, as well as lower mean global circumferential strain (GCS) in these layers (Table 1). In the group without diastolic dysfunction (Table 2), we found significantly higher mean left ventricular mass index, higher mean IVS thickness, as well as higher mean PW thickness, but without any significant difference in global longitudinal and circumferential strain  indices between hypertensive and normotensive subgroups.