Cardiovascular findings in self-reported healthy elderly. The Elite Seniors Study

A descriptive study of self-reported healthy elderly in Newcastle was undertaken for an adequate understanding of the normal characteristics of the elderly.

We sought to determine the frequency of abnormal clinical, laboratory and echocardiographic findings in a self-reported healthy elderly population.

Volunteers aged greater than 75 years were recruited from active members of the region's bowling clubs. Forty-five subjects with no self-reported vascular or cardiac disease underwent clinical, laboratory and echocardiography assessment.

Minor cardiovascular abnormalities were frequently detected. Echocardiography correspondingly found a high frequency of haemodynamically insignificant degenerative valvular lesions. Doppler left ventricular filling pattern of abnormal relaxation was a universal finding.

There is a high prevalence of age-related echo-Doppler abnormalities in the self-reported healthy elderly with important implications for the interpretation of echo-Doppler studies.