Association of left atrial enlargement with ventricular remodeling in hypertensive Chinese elderly.

BACKGROUND: It is not well known whether left atrial (LA) enlargement is associated with left ventricular (LV) remodeling in Asian subjects with preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF ≥50%). Therefore, we studied whether LA enlargement is related to ventricular remodeling in hypertensive Chinese elderly with preserved LVEF.

METHODS: Data of 480 hypertensive Chinese elderly (age from 65 to 94 years) with LVEF ≥50% were consecutively included in the study.

RESULTS: We observed a total of 248 patients (51.7%) with increased LA size. Univariate analysis showed that LA size was positively related to duration of hypertension, prevalence of coronary heart disease and atrial fibrillation, interventricular septal thickness, LV posterior wall thickness, LV end-diastolic and end-systolic diameter, LV mass index, right ventricular (RV) diameter and aortic diameter; meanwhile, LA size was inversely related to LVEF and relative wall thickness of LV. Multivariate regression analysis showed that LA enlargement was positively related to duration of hypertension (P=.012) and RV diameter (P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Left atrial enlargement is independently associated with a longer duration of hypertension and RV dilative remodeling in hypertensive elderly with preserved LVEF. LA enlargement is an early sign of RV eccentric remodeling in hypertensive elderly.