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Aging and essential hypertension: effect of left ventricular hypertrophy on cardiac function
T Grodzicki1, L Michalewicz, F H Messerli
1Department of Gerontology, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.
American Journal of Hypertension
|June 2, 1998
Summary
Aging impairs cardiac function in hypertensive individuals, particularly affecting systolic function in older adults with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Diastolic filling is also reduced in elderly patients, even without LVH.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Gerontology
- Hypertension Research
Background:
- Essential hypertension can lead to cardiac structural changes like left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).
- Aging is independently associated with cardiovascular changes, but its interaction with hypertension and LVH requires further study.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the cardiac effects of aging and hypertension in patients with essential hypertension.
- To investigate the impact of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) on cardiac function in different age groups.
Main Methods:
- Echocardiography was used to assess cardiac functional structure in hypertensive patients categorized by age (<55 and >64 years) and LVH presence.
- Peak filling rate and duration of rapid filling were measured using echocardiographic data.
Main Results:
- In older hypertensive patients, LVH was associated with significantly impaired systolic function compared to those without LVH.
- Older patients, irrespective of LVH, exhibited impaired diastolic filling (longer rapid filling duration, lower peak filling rate) compared to younger individuals.
- In older subjects, increased left ventricular mass correlated with decreased systolic function parameters (velocity of circumferential fiber shortening, fractional fiber shortening, ejection fraction).
Conclusions:
- Aging contributes to impaired diastolic filling in hypertensive individuals, even without left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).
- Systolic function deteriorates with increasing left ventricular mass in older hypertensive patients, suggesting aging reduces the efficiency of cardiac contractile elements.