High prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in octogenarian women: The Jerusalem Longitudinal Cohort Study.
BACKGROUND
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is more frequent in women and increases with age; however, it is unclear whether this finding is true in the very elderly. The objective of this study was to examine gender differences in the prevalence of LVH in a very elderly cohort.


METHODS
Subjects were recruited from the Jerusalem Longitudinal Cohort Study. Three hundred and thirty-nine of the subjects from the most recent set of data collection in 2005-2006 underwent echocardiography in addition to structured interviews and physical examination.


RESULTS
The overall prevalence of LVH was high and significantly higher among women (60% vs 43%, p=0.0023). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was significantly higher in women with LVH compared with women without LVH (p<0.01) and both groups of men (p<0.005). Women with LVH were three times more likely than women without LVH and 6.5 times more likely than men with LVH to believe that a BP of 160/100 mmHg represents their BP goal (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates a high prevalence of LVH in a very elderly population, a finding significantly more pronounced in women and related to SBP.
Leibowitz
David
D
Department of Medicine, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Mount-Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel. oleibo@hadassah.org.il
Bursztyn
Michael
M
Jacobs
Jeremy M
JM
Ein-Mor
Eliana
E
Stessman
Jochanan
J
D000367:Age Factors; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents