Prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in a hypertensive population.

AIMS This investigation was set up to study the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in a hypertensive population with reference to a normotensive control group. From the general population 3498 men and women aged 35, 45, 55 and 65 years old were invited to a health examination. Participants with blood pressure above 160 mmHg systolic or 95 mmHg diastolic or those taking antihypertensive medication or having done so during the previous 6 months were asked to undergo an echocardiographic examination. Normotensive controls were randomly selected from the same population. Of 552 participants in the final study population, 194 were normotensive controls and 358 were in the hypertensive group. Echocardiographic measurements were made according to the Penn conventions and indexed for body surface. Cut-off values for left ventricular hypertrophy were 134 g.m-2 for males and 102 g.m-2 for women. RESULTS Overall, the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy was 14%/20% (men/women) in normotensives and 25%/26% in hypertensives (P < 0.01). After subdivision by age and sex, there was a significant difference in the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy between normotensives and hypertensives only in the 65-year-old group (P < 0.02 for males and P < 0.05 for females). CONCLUSIONS The association between blood pressure and left ventricular hypertrophy in the general population is weak. Left ventricular hypertrophy is only significantly more frequent among hypertensives as compared to normotensives in older people.