Left ventricular mass increase is associated with cognitive decline and dementia in the elderly independently of blood pressure

Aims Left ventricular (LV) mass increase is considered part of composite target organ damage in hypertension and an independent risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) events. This study was designed to explore whether left ventricular mass index (LVMI) is associated with cognitive decline and dementia in elderly subjects, independently of blood pressure (BP) levels. Methods and results Four hundred subjects (mean age 79 ± 6 years) were studied. Left ventricular mass was measured echocardiographically in accordance with American Society of Echocardiography and normalized for body height to the 2.7 (LVMI). Global cognitive function was evaluated with the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) (maximum score 30). Dementia was defined as an MMSE score