Echocardiographic reference values in a sample of asymptomatic adult Brazilian population.
OBJECTIVE
To determine echocardiographic reference values for cardiac chambers, left ventricular mass, and left ventricular (LV) mass indexes in an asymptomatic adult population sample.


METHODS
This was an observational study based on a randomly selected population sample from the city of Vitória, Brazil. Two hundred and ninety-five volunteers (61.7% women) with no past history of cardiovascular disease underwent transthoracic echocardiography. The following M-mode echocardiographic parameters were measured: ventricular diameters, interventricular septal thickness, LV posterior wall thickness, LV mass, left ventricular mass indexes, plus aortic and left atrial diameters. Values were expressed as mean and standard deviation and percentiles, with a 95% confidence interval.


RESULTS
Echocardiographic values were slightly influenced by gender and age. Overall, cardiac measurements were higher in the male gender. LV posterior wall thickness, mass indexes corrected for height and diastolic diameter were influenced by age. The 95% percentiles of interventricular septum and LV posterior wall were 9.9 mm and 9.6 mm for men, respectively, and 9.3 mm for septum and posterior wall for women.


CONCLUSIONS
The 95% percentile values of interventricular septum and posterior wall and, therefore, of both absolute and indexed left ventricular mass found in our study conducted in the Vitória population are lower than those reported in previous studies. In this framework, our results will be useful as a reference, since they are consistent with the new limits suggested in the literature for the echocardiographic diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy.
Angelo
Lílian Cláudia Souza
LC
Instituto do Coração do Hospital das Clínicas, FMUSP, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, São Paulo, SP, Espírito Santo, ES, Brazil. langel@cardiol.br
Vieira
Marcelo Luiz Campos
ML
Rodrigues
Sérgio Lamêgo
SL
Morelato
Renato Lírio
RL
Pereira
Alexandre C
AC
Mill
José Geraldo
JG
Krieger
José Eduardo
JE
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D001938:Brazil; D004452:Echocardiography; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D054088:Ventricular Septum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*