Pathological validation of auscultation of the elderly heart.
Systolic murmurs present in 129 geriatric patients followed to post-mortem were assessed as mitral or aortic in origin by simple clinical assessment alone. Post-mortem examination contradicted clinical findings in only 2% of cases. Mitral valve pathology, mostly post-inflammatory scarring or mucoid degeneration, was present in 50% of the cases with murmurs. There was a significant correlation between the presence of murmurs, particularly mitral murmurs, and congestive cardiac failure, and there was also a significant correlation with age. A tendency for aortic systolic murmurs to be associated with a higher mean systolic blood pressure was not significant and there was no significant association between systolic murmurs and ischaemic heart disease.
D000368:Aged; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000473:pathology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D006326:Heart Auscultation; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000473:pathology; D010701:Phonocardiography