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Aortic root dilatation in hypertensive patients: a multicenter survey in echocardiographic practice

Cesare Cuspidi1, Francesca Negri, Massimo Salvetti

  • 1Department of Clinical Medicine and Prevention, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy. cesare.cuspidi@unimib.it

Blood Pressure
|March 11, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Aortic root dilatation (ARD) is common in hypertensive patients, affecting 11.8% of those undergoing echocardiography. Body surface area, left ventricular mass, and age are key correlates, with differences observed between men and women.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Hypertension Research
  • Echocardiography

Background:

  • Aortic root dilatation (ARD) is a cardiovascular phenotype with adverse prognostic implications.
  • Prevalence data for ARD primarily come from population-based and selected hypertensive cohorts, with limited clinical practice data.
  • Hypertension is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular damage, necessitating investigation into associated phenotypes like ARD.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the prevalence and correlates of ARD in a large cohort of hypertensive patients referred for routine echocardiography.
  • To investigate factors associated with ARD in clinical practice settings.
  • To identify differences in ARD correlates between genders.

Main Methods:

  • A multicenter nationwide survey included 2229 untreated and treated hypertensive subjects (mean age 62 years).
  • Patients were referred from 17 outpatient echocardiographic laboratories across Italy for assessment of hypertensive subclinical cardiac damage.
  • ARD was defined by aortic diameter exceeding 3.7 cm in women and 3.9 cm in men.

Main Results:

  • ARD was identified in 263 patients, yielding an overall prevalence of 11.8% (16.9% in men, 6.2% in women).
  • Multivariate regression revealed body surface area (BSA), left ventricular (LV) mass, and age as primary correlates of aortic root size in the overall population and in men.
  • In women, LV mass and its derivative indexes were the most significant independent variables associated with aortic root size.

Conclusions:

  • ARD is a frequent cardiovascular phenotype in hypertensive patients referred for echocardiography to detect organ damage.
  • BSA, LV mass, and age are the principal correlates of ARD.
  • The relative importance of these correlates differs by gender, with LV mass being the strongest predictor in women.
Abstract

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