Chamber sizes and left ventricular mass in sub-Saharan Africans: Normal echocardiographic values from the TAHES study

Abstract

Reported ranges of normal echocardiographic values for chambers size or left ventricular (LV) mass are mostly issued from Caucasian cohorts and they may not be representative of diverse world population. Our study aimed to establish reference values in a community-dwelling Beninese population cohort. This study is a part of TAHES, a population-based prospective cohort study initiated in 2015 in Benin. Overall transthoracic echocardiography examinations were performed by 4 cardiologist, and analyzed off-line by a single observer. Interventricular septal (IVSWT), posterior wall thicknesses (PWT) and LV internal diameters were measured from the parasternal long-axis acoustic window in M mode. The LV mass was calculated from linear measurements obtained from parasternal views. LV, left atrial (LA) and right atrial (RA) volumes were measured using the discs’ summation method. Normal limits were defined as the 95th percentiles. We included 513 normotensive individuals (206 men and 307 women, age 40 ± 14 years, BSA 1.59 ± 0.18 m 2 ). End-diastolic IVSWT, LV internal diameter, PWT, and systolic LV internal diameter were respectively 10.4 ± 2.5, 48 ± 5, 9.8 ± 1.9, 15 ± 2.7 mm for men and 9.1 ± 2.4, 45 ± 4.3, 9 ± 1.8, 13.2 ± 2.5 mm for women. LV mass was significantly greater in men (172 ± 53 vs. 135 ± 37 g). Upper limits of LV mass were 260 g for men and 206 g for women. There was a correlation between LV mass and age in both sexes ( r = 0.20, P < 0.0001). The indexed values with the upper limits are summarized in Table 1 . Normal values in West Africa differ from those established in Caucasian populations with greater LV mass, wall thicknesses and LV sizes.