Background The temporal relationship between type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is not well established. This study aims to examine the temporal sequence between T2DM and LVH/cardiac geometry patterns in middle-aged adults. Methods and Results The longitudinal cohort consisted of 1000 adults (682 White individuals and 318 Black individuals; 41.1% men; mean age, 36.2 years at baseline) who had data on fasting glucose/T2DM, left ventricular mass index (LVMI), and relative wall thickness collected twice at baseline and follow-up over 9.4 years on average. The cross-lagged path analysis model in 905 adults who did not take antidiabetic medications and the longitudinal prediction model in 1000 adults were used to examine the temporal relationships of glucose/T2DM with LVMI, LVH, relative wall thickness, and remodeling patterns. After adjustment for age, race, sex, smoking, alcohol drinking, body mass index, heart rate, hypertension, and follow-up years, the path coefficient from baseline LVMI to follow-up glucose was 0.088 (P=0.005); the path from baseline glucose to follow-up LVMI was -0.009 (P=0.758). The 2 paths between glucose and relative wall thickness were not significant. The path analysis parameters did not differ significantly between race, sex, and follow-up duration subgroups. Incidence of T2DM was higher in the baseline LVH group than in the normal LVMI group (24.8% versus 8.8%; P=0.017 for difference). Incidence of LVH and concentric LVH was higher in the baseline T2DM group than in the group without T2DM (50.0% versus 18.2% for LVH [P=0.005 for difference]; 41.7% versus 12.6% for concentric LVH [P=0.004 for difference]), with adjustment for covariates. Conclusions This study suggests that the temporal relationship between T2DM and LVH is likely bidirectional. The path from LVMI/LVH to glucose/T2DM is stronger than the path from glucose/T2DM to LVMI/LVH.
Keywords: diabetes; left ventricular hypertrophy; longitudinal study; temporal relationship.