Left ventricular geometry and mortality in patients >70 years of age with normal ejection fraction

Numerous studies have indicated that left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy predicts morbidity and mortality, including studies in older patients. The prognostic impact of other LV geometric patterns, including concentric remodeling (CR), compared with LV hypertrophy has not been studied in a large cohort of older patients. Echocardiographic and clinical data were studied in 9,771 consecutive patients aged >70 years with ejection fractions > or =50% who were followed for 3.1 years to determine the impact of LV geometric patterns. CR was the most prevalent pattern (43%), and 16% met criteria for LV hypertrophy. Although patients with CR had significantly lower LV mass indexes than patients with normal structure as well as those with LV hypertrophy, their mortality was 35% higher than that of normal subjects (15.5% vs 11.5%, p <0.0001) and 13% higher than that of patients with eccentric LV hypertrophy (15.5% vs 13.7%, p <0.001) with similar mortality to those with concentric LV hypertrophy (15.5% vs 15.9%). In conclusion, abnormal LV geometry is extremely common in patients aged >70 years with normal systolic function, being present in 59% of this population, with CR (43%) by far the most common LV geometric pattern. Patients aged >70 years with CR have significantly increased mortality compared with similarly aged patients with either normal structure or eccentric LV hypertrophy, with similar increased mortality to those with concentric LV hypertrophy.