[Left heart hypertrophy in arterial hypertension in relation to hemodynamic and humoral factors].

In patients with arterial hypertension hemodynamic as well as humoral factors may influence the development of left ventricular hypertrophy. We therefore investigated in 23 patients with long standing hypertension (11 females, 12 males, age 50 +/- 13 years) wether left ventricular mass as determined by echocardiography interrelates with hemodynamic or humoral parameters. Left ventricular mass measured 161 +/- 51 g/m2 and correlated significantly with patients' age (r = 0.55, p less than 0.05) and systolic blood pressure (159 +/- 21 mm Hg, r = 0.51, p less than 0.05) but not with diastolic blood pressure (99 +/- 15 mm Hg, r = 0.23, not significant). Plasma renin activity was 0.6 +/- 0.6 ng/ml/h and plasma norepinephrine levels measured 371 +/- 168 ng/l. Neither of these humoral parameters correlated significantly with left ventricular mass. It is concluded that in long standing hypertension left ventricular hypertrophy is determined predominantly by the elevation of systolic blood pressure and the patients' age.