Assessment of Atrial Electromechanical Delay Using Tissue Doppler Echocardiography in Children with Asthma

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction, pulmonary hypertension, atrial enlargement, and cor pulmonale may be associated with asthma. These pathological conditions may disturb the electrophysiological properties of the right atrium. This study investigated the atrial electromechanical delay and P-wave dispersion (PWD) in patients with asthma. Thirty-four children aged 8–16 years who were being followed up for asthma constituted the patient group, and 34 age- and body mass index-matched patients constituted the control group. Both groups underwent RV tissue Doppler measurements, intra-right atrial conduction time (IRCT-echo) determination, intra-left atrial conduction time (ILCT-echo) determination, inter-atrial conduction time (IACT-echo) determination, and PWD measurement. The IRCT-echo (14.38 ± 5.46 and 8.20 ± 3.90 ms; p < 0.001) and IACT-echo (28.97 ± 6.58 and 22.79 ± 6.28 ms; p < 0.001) were higher in patients with asthma than in the control group. The PWD (44.58 ± 17.51 and 38.11 ± 13.50 ms; p = 0.09), maximum P-wave duration (87.94 ± 18.20 and 82.44 ± 16.36 ms, p = 0.19), minimum P-wave duration (43.58 ± 9.95 and 44.79 ± 9.13 ms; p = 0.60), and ILCT-echo (15.88 ± 5.40 and 14.58 ± 4.94 ms; p = 0.30) were similar between the two groups. The IRCT-echo was positively correlated with the isovolumetric relaxation time of the lateral tricuspid annulus (r = 0.60; p < 0.001) and with the myocardial performance index of the lateral tricuspid annulus (r = 0.59; p < 0.001) in patients with asthma. The IRCT-echo and IACT-echo were higher in patients with asthma than in the control group. The deterioration of the electrophysiological properties of the right atrium may result in a risk of atrial fibrillation in patients with asthma.