Abstract
Background: Left ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH) has been associated with higher cardiovascular morbidity and mortality but most of these studies were conducted in majority (white) populations. LVH is known to be more common in African Americans (AA) who also have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The prognostic significance of LVH in AA with Heart Failure (HF) has not been well studied. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of a predominantly minority HF cohort (69.3% AA); after obtaining approval from our institutional review board. Our primary goal was to compare the HF outcomes [All-cause hospitalizations (ACH), hospitalizations primarily due to HF and ER visits] in patients with EKG evidence of LVH versus those without LVH. We also examined the racial (Blacks vs Whites), gender (males vs females) and age-based (≥60 Vs <60 years) differential impact of LVH on HF outcomes and determined the prevalence of LVH in the cohort. Levene’s Test and t-test were used to analyze the data for equality of variances and means respectively. Result: Our HF cohort consisted of 599 patients (415 AA, 142 Caucasian, 22 others, 20 unknown). The prevalence of LVH in overall cohort was 26.7%. We noted that black had higher prevalence of LVH ( 31%) vs Whites (15.5%) while prevalence of LVH was not very different in males ( 27.9%) vs females( 25.7%) and ≥60 years of age( 27.5%) vs <60 (27.3%). The analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the number of ACH (p-value = 0.014), HF hospitalizations (p-value = 0.019) and ER visits (p-value = 0.001) in the LVH group compared with the non-LVH group. . There were no racial, gender or age-based statistically significant differences in the impact of LVH on HF outcomes. Conclusion: Electrocardiographically determined LVH in a minority - predominant HF cohort is associated with worse outcomes. This needs to be prospectively validated in a larger cohort of HF and could serve as a prognostic marker to guide the care of HF patients.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
