Von Willebrand Factor And The Right Ventricle: The MESA-Right Ventricle Study

Elevation in plasma activity of von Willebrand Factor (vWF) reflects endothelial dysfunction and predicts death in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).Higher vWF activity is also associated with lower right ventricular (RV) ejection fraction in PAH.Little is known about the relationship between vWF and RV structure and function in adults without cardiovascular disease.In the current investigation, we included 1,976 participants with MRI assessment of RV structure and function and measurement of vWF activity from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.Multivariable linear regression was used to estimate the associations between vWF activity and measures of RV structure and function after adjusting for demographics, anthropometrics, smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and the corresponding left ventricular (LV) parameter.The average vWF activity was 140.7 ± 57.2%.Elevated vWF activity was independently associated with lower RV mass, RV end-diastolic volume and RV stroke volume in models with and without adjustment for the corresponding LV parameter (all p < 0.05).There was no association observed between vWF activity and RV ejection fraction.In conclusion, higher vWF activity is associated with lower RV mass, RV end-diastolic volume and RV stroke volume.These associations are independent of common cardiovascular risk factors and LV morphologic changes.