Impact of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction on large conducting airways in humans

• Published in: Physiology (Bethesda, Md.) Vol. 38; no. S1
• Main Authors: Johnston, Jessica, Borlaug, Barry, Johnson, Bruce, Smith, Joshua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.05.2023
• ISSN: 1548-9213; 1548-9221
• DOI: 10.1152/physiol.2023.38.S1.5732981

Abstract only Background: Heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) exhibit exercise intolerance and exertional dyspnea. The underlying pathophysiology is complex and involves multiple physiological systems. To this point, HFpEF patients exhibit pulmonary abnormalities at rest and during exercise. For example, HFpEF patients have higher work of breathing during exercise due to greater inspiratory and expiratory resistive work of breathing. Importantly, this greater resistive work of breathing is not associated with higher inspiratory and expiratory flow rates suggesting pulmonary resistance is elevated in HFpEF patients. One potential explanation for the increase in resistive work of breathing during exercise in HFpEF patients is smaller luminal area of the airways. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if differences exist in the luminal area of the large conducting airways in HFpEF patients compared to controls. We hypothesized that HFpEF patients will exhibit smaller luminal areas of the large conducting airways compared to controls. Methods: HFpEF patients (n=9; 67±7 yrs; 30±3 kg/m 2 ) and controls (n=8; 62±9 yrs; 24±3 kg/m 2 ) were enrolled. All participants performed pulmonary function testing and a thoracic computerized tomographic (CT) scan (assessed at total lung capacity). The airway luminal area was quantified from three-dimensional reconstructions from the high-resolution CT scans. The luminal areas of the large conducting airways were measured at three discreet points (corresponding to the beginning, middle, and end of the airway), averaged, and indexed to height. Results: The luminal area of the trachea was not different between groups (p=0.95). HFpEF patients had smaller luminal area of the right main bronchus (control: 1.38±0.21 vs. HFpEF: 1.18±0.13 mm 2 /cm) and left main bronchus (control: 0.98±0.20 vs. HFpEF: 0.79±0.15 mm 2 /cm) (both, p<0.04) than controls. HFpEF patients also had smaller luminal area of the bronchus intermedius (control: 0.82±0.14 vs. HFpEF: 0.67±0.15 mm 2 /cm) and left lower lobe bronchus (control: 0.48±0.13 vs. HFpEF: 0.36±0.07 mm 2 /cm) compared to controls (both, p<0.04). No differences were present between groups in the right and left upper lobe bronchi (both, p>0.40). Conclusion: HFpEF patients have smaller luminal areas of some, but not all large conducting airways compared to controls. These findings provide support for smaller large conducting airways in HFpEF contributing to the pulmonary abnormalities during exercise in these patients. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.