title: Normal values of left-ventricular mass:  echocardiographic findings from the PAMELA study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Upper reference values of echocardiographic left-ventricular mass in the European population are based on scanty data mostly derived from northern European population-based samples. Furthermore, data in apparently healthy populations have included individuals with conditions affecting left-ventricular mass such as obesity, diabetes and masked hypertension. Thus, from 1051 individuals with normal office blood pressure (BP) belonging to the PAMELA (Pressioni Arteriose Monitorate E Loro Associazioni) study population, we selected a group of 675 sustained normotensive individuals in order to provide reliable echocardiographic reference values for defining the criteria of left-ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group (women 58%, mean age 42 ± 11 years) was identified after excluding individuals with isolated home or ambulatory hypertension, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and echocardiographic examinations of insufficient quality to evaluate left-ventricular mass.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sex-specific upper limits of normality [mean + 1.96 standard deviation (SD)] for left-ventricular mass, left-ventricular mass indexed to body surface area, heightand height were the following: 213 g, 114 g/m, 51 g/h, 123 g/h in men and 161 g, 99  g/m, 47 g/h, 101 g/h in women. In multivariate analyses, body size measures and ambulatory BP levels were the most important correlates of left-ventricular mass.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our investigation by providing upper reference limits of left-ventricular mass in a southern European population sample, carefully selected after exclusion of a large number of conditions affecting left-ventricular mass, may offer a contribution for revising diagnostic criteria of echocardiographic LVH currently recommended by European hypertension guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Prevention, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. cesare.cuspidi@unimib.it
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cuspidi
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Facchetti
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sala
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bombelli
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Negri
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carugo
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sega
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grassi
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mancia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000378:metabolism; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D012016:Reference Values