Association between serum immunoglobulin G4 concentration and cardiac function among elderly cardiology inpatients

Abstract

Aim: To study whether there is an association between serum immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) concentration and cardiac function among cardiology inpatients.

Methods: This retrospective study included 91 patients who had sinus rhythm. Of 91 patients, 70 patients (77%) were aged ≥ 60 years (elderly group) and the remaining 21 patients (23%) were aged <60 years (younger group).

Results: Serum IgG4 concentrations were found to be negatively correlated with brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and with E/e', an indicator for cardiac diastolic function in the elderly group, but not in the younger group. In contrast, IgG4 was significantly correlated with neither left ventricular mass nor ejection fraction in either group. Multivariate regression analysis showed that, in the elderly group, the association between IgG4 and E/e', and that between IgG4 and BNP, were independent of age, sex, systolic blood pressure and renal function; log-transformed IgG4 showed a negative association with log-transformed E/e' and log-transformed BNP, with a standardized correlation coefficient of -0.26 (95% confidence interval -0.49 to -0.03, P = 0.030 and -0.22 (95% confidence interval -0.44 to -0.11, P = 0.043), respectively.

Conclusion: Serum IgG4 concentration might be associated with cardiac diastolic function among elderly cardiology inpatients.

Keywords: cardiac function; diastolic function; heart failure; hypertrophy.