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Left ventricular function was evaluated in 24 women who developed impaired glucose tolerance only during their pregnancy, i.e. patients with gestational diabetes. The results were compared with those of 25 normal pregnant women and with those of 17 pregnant women with clinical diabetes. The method of systolic time intervals was applied. At the third trimester of pregnancy, both the women with overt diabetes and those with gestational diabetes, when compared with normal pregnant subjects, had a more prolonged pre-ejection period (PEP) and a shorter left ventricular ejection time (LVET) and, consequently, a higher PEP/LVET ratio. Five weeks after delivery, abnormalities of systolic time intervals persisted in patients with clinical diabetes, but there were no differences at this time between patients with gestational diabetes and those in the control group. It is concluded that when a cardiac load is superimposed on patients who develop diabetes only under conditions of stress, as in pregnancy (gestational diabetes), abnormalities of myocardial function appear, which revert to normal when the stressful event is removed.

The alterations in the systolic time intervals caused by hypertension during pregnancy have been investigated. A group of 20 women who developed hypertension only during pregnancy (HP), and a group of 16 women who began pregnancy with established hypertension (EHP) were matched with 25 normal pregnant women (N). the study was performed (1) during the third trimester, (2) five days after delivery and (3) five weeks after delivery, both in supine and in lateral postures. In the third trimester the two hypertensive groups, when compared with the normal group, were characterized by a shorter left ventricular ejection time (LVETi: 407 +/- 3 ms for the normal group v. 390 +/- 2 ms for the HPO group, P less than 0.001; v. 398 +/- 2 ms for the EHP group, P less than 0.02), and a longer pre-ejection period (PEPi: 138 +/- 2 ms for the normal group v. 154 +/- 2 ms for the HP group P less than 0.001; v. 145 +/- 1 ms for the EHP group, P less than 0.05). When the two hypertensive groups were compared with each other the HP group showed a shortened LVET and a prolonged PEP (P less than 0.01), and also a slower heart rate (HP 74 +/- 3 b min-1. EHP 83 +/- 3 b min-1 P less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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