Interaction Effects of Age and Sex on Left Atrial Phasic Function in Patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: A Two-dimensional Speckle-tracking Echocardiography.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the impact of age, sex, and their interaction effects on left atrial (LA) phasic function in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS: A total of 169 men (84%) and 31 women (16%) who presented with STEMI were included consecutively. LA phasic function was evaluated using two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography. RESULTS: LA strain and strain rate during the reservoir phase and strain rate during the conduit phase decreased with increasing age in men (β = -0.21, β = -0.19, and β = -0.36, respectively) and in women (β = -0.59, β = -0.57, and β = -0.44, respectively). LA strain during the conduit phase decreased with increasing age in men (β = -0.27), and LA strain and strain rate during the contraction phase lessened in women (β = -0.62 and β = -0.58, respectively) (all P < 0.05). The interaction of age and sex on LA strain and strain rate during the reservoir (B = 0.33 and B = 0.04, respectively) and contraction (B = 0.34 and B = 0.08, respectively) phases was statistically significant, but not during the conduit phase. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that in patients with acute STEMI during the early period, LA reservoir function decreases with increasing age in both sexes, with a higher rate in women, and LA contraction function declines with age only in women. There was no significant difference between men and women in terms of LA conduit function, which declined at the same rate in both sexes with age.