Echocardiographic findings in non-hypertensive subjects in Bayelsa, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Echocardiography is one of the tools for the assessment of patients with hypertensive disease. Differences in  parameters have been described based on race, gender and environment.

Aim: In order to define what should be considered abnormal, we set to find out what the normal cardiac parameters are in our environment.

Methods: This was a cross sectional of 80 non hypertensive adults. Transthoracic 2D echocardiography was performed with patients in the left decubitus position using standard techniques.

Results: From this study, we found the left ventricular mass to be 129 ± 37.61, the ejection fraction (%) 62.77 ± 10.55 and the fractional shortening (%) to be 34.18 ± 7.49. Values for the intraventricular septal thickness, posterior wall diameter, left ventricle internal diameter (in diastole and systole) are (0.92±0.19, 1.43±0.24), (0.91±0.17, 1.47±0.23) and (4.32±0.50, 2.83±0.42) respectively. All the  parameters other than relative wall thickness and ejection fraction showed  statistically significant difference (P<0.05).

Conclusion: We hope that the findings from this study will provide direction on what to consider as normal regarding echocardiographic findings in our environment.

Key words: Echocardiography, hypertension, cardiometabolic disorder, cardiovascular disorder, BMI, ventricular mass