• Halil Kara, Uğur Nadir Karakulak, Meside Gündüzöz, Ceylan Bal, Murat Alışık, Murat Büyükşekerci, Servet Bilgin İritaş, Ömer Hınç Yılmaz, and Lütfiye Tutkun.
• Turk J Med Sci. 2019 Feb 11; 49 (1): 66-73.

Background/AimLead can cause morphological and functional changes in heart, and inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in vasculature. Endocan, as a novel indicator of endothelial dysfunction, has been used for cardiovascular diseases. This study investigated the relationship between lead exposure, endocan levels, and diastolic functions.Materials And MethodsA total of 51 lead-exposed workers without a known cardiovascular disease or risk factors and 54 healthy controls were enrolled. All participants underwent transthoracic echocardiography. Blood lead and serum endocan levels were analyzed.ResultsBaseline demographic and clinical characteristics were found to be similar between groups. Median blood lead (32 vs 1.5 μg/dL, P < 0.001) and serum endocan levels (67 vs 57.1 pg/mL, P = 0.02) were significantly higher in the lead-exposed group. Serum endocan level showed a positive correlation with blood lead levels (r = 0.404, P = 0.003) in lead-exposed workers. Serum endocan level was an independent risk factor for increased E/E’ ratio (β = 0.704, P = 0.002) and left atrial volume index (β = 1.158, P = 0.011) and higher level of lead in blood was an independent risk factor for increased E wave (β = 8.004, P = 0.022) in lead-exposed workers.ConclusionWorsened diastolic functions may be seen in the course of lead exposure. Due to sharing a similar mechanism, a higher serum level of endocan may be a valuable laboratory clue for impaired diastolic function in this population.

17 keywords...

hide…