Left ventricular hypertrophy evaluation in obese hypertensive patients: effect of left ventricular mass index criteria

To evaluate left ventricular mass (LVM) index in hypertensive and normotensive obese individuals. Using M mode echocardiography, 544 essential hypertensive and 106 normotensive patients were evaluated, and LVM was indexed for body surface area (LVM/BSA) and for height2 (LVM/h2). The 2 indexes were then compared in both populations, in subgroups stratified according to body mass index (BMI): /= 30kg/m2. The BSA index does not allow identification of significant differences between BMI subgroups. Indexing by height2 provides significantly increased values for high BMI subgroups in normotensive and hypertensive populations. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) has been underestimated in the obese with the use of LVM/BSA because this index considers obesity as a physiological variable. Indexing by height2 allows differences between BMI subgroups to become apparent and seems to be more appropriate for detecting LVH in obese populations.