Measurement of left ventricular wall mass in pediatric populations

Abstract

This paper reviews the techniques for obtaining technically adequate echocardiograms for epidemiologic studies. When these technicques were applied to studies of pediatric populations the following objectives were achieved: 1) reproducible echocardiograms, 2) observations about the relationship of echocardiographic variables to cardiovascular variables, and 3) information about the relationship of echocardiographic and electrocardiographic variables to each other and to blood pressure. We documented the precision of M-mode left ventricular chambers and dimensions, interobserver and intraobserver variability, and the day-to-day variability of these measures. Left ventricular wall mass was significantly larger than expected for age and body size in children with persistently elevated blood pressure. The relationship between the echocardiographic and electrocardiographic variables was poor. Moreover, the electrocardiographic measures of ventricular hypertrophy did not correlate with blood pressure. © 1987 American Heart Association, Inc.