title: Arterial hypertension, left ventricular geometry and QT dispersion in a middle-aged Estonian female population.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and different left ventricular (LV) geometric patterns in the middle-aged women population of Tallinn, to assess the relationship between LV geometry, age, blood pressure and LV repolarization duration and inhomogeneity. A random sample of the population, 482 women aged 35-59, was examined in the framework of a cardiovascular risk factors survey for the WHO/CINDI programme years 1999-2000. Patients with valvular pathology, primary cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation, bundle branch blocks and flat T wave on electrocardiography (ECG) were excluded; 398 (82.2%) of the participants underwent echocardiography (Echo) and standard 12-lead ECG at rest and were included in the study. LVH was defined if left ventricular mass (LVM), LVM/height and LVM/BSA were >198 g, >121 g/m and > 120 g/m2, respectively. Arterial hypertension was determined in 23.1% of the women. The prevalence of arterial hypertension was three times higher in those aged 50-59 than in those aged 40-49 (37.4% vs 13.2%; p < 0.05). Different geometric patterns were found as follows: concentric hypertrophy in 9.1%; eccentric hypertrophy 33.9%; concentric remodelling 9.5% and normal geometry 47.5% of the participants. Concentric hypertrophy was found exclusively in hypertensive women and increased with age. No age-related eccentric hypertrophy and concentric remodelling differences were found, either in the normotensive or in the hypertensive group. Prolonged QT dispersion--a marker of increased myocardial electrical instability, was associated with LVH and arterial hypertension and was related mostly to concentric hypertrophy in hypertensives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Cardiology of Estonian Institute of Cardiology, Tallinn, Estonia. teretata@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shipilova
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pshenichnikov
authors.forename: Jüri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaik
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Volozh
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abina
authors.forename: Maie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalev
authors.forename: Jaanus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lass
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004957:Estonia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies