Normal heart sizes of Nigerians within Rivers state using cardiothoracic ratio

Abstract

Chest radiography is the most commonly used modality for the detection of   cardiomegaly and the evaluation of cardiothoracic ratio.The aim of this study was to establish the mean values of cardiac and thoracic diameters, and the cardiothoracic ratio in children, adolescents and adult Nigerians within Rivers State and to provide a database of normal heart sizes of Nigerians within Rivers State which could be used for clinical interpretation and to compare with other ethnic groups within Nigeria, Africa and the world at large. This study considered the heart sizes of three hundredand six samples of children, adolescence and adult Nigerians of both sexes within Rivers State which is as a result of racial variations which has been noted to affect the sizes of the heart. The results showed the mean heart diameter for males to be12.92 ± 1.41cm, 12.01 ± 1.38cm for females while 12.46± 1.44cm was noted for both genders. For chest diameter, the mean; 28.28 ± 2.86cm was obtained for males, 25.71 ± 2.30cm for females, and 27.00 ± 2.82cm for both genders and lastly, the mean CTR value of 45.7± 0.03 for males, 46.7 ± 0.04 for females and 46.3± 0.03 for both genders. Statistical analysis using student t- test showed that male Nigerians within Rivers State had significantly higher value (p<0.05) in almost all the parameters except in CTR where the females had higher CTR value  (p<0.05).The finding of this study will serve as a basis for future studies on other Nigerian ethnic group, to enhance better clinical interpretations and also necessary for a better and more accurate evaluation of cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: Cardiothoracic ratio, Heart diameter and Chest radiograph