Left Atrial Size and Left Ventricular Mass Index in Hypertensive Patients

Background: This study was conducted with the objective of evaluation of the occurrence of left atrial enlargement (LAE) in hypertensive patients and its relationship with left ventricular mass index (LVMI).Methods: This single centre study was carried out at the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center, where total of 99 patients with hypertension who had left ventricular hypertrophy on echocardiography defined by left ventricular septal wall thickness > 9mm for female and >10 mm for male, were selected from May 2015 to August 2015.Results: In the study, the left atrium was enlarged in 31% of the selected patients. A total of 44% of patients having left atrial enlargement had increased left ventricular mass index as well, while a positive correlation (r = 0.3) was observed between the left atrial size and the left ventricular mass index (p= 0.001). The mean Left Ventricular Mass Index was 98 ± 32.7 g/m2 as compared to 115.34 ± 40.2 in patients with left atrial enlargement. The mean systolic blood pressure with left atrial enlargement was 146.70 ± 21.64 g/m2. Out of 99 patients, 80% of patients with left atrial enlargement had elevated body mass indexes, 48% had a history of smoking, 32% had diabetes mellitus, 22% had other complications of hypertension, and 12% had dyslipidemia.Conclusions: We concluded that the Left Atrial Size correlates significantly with the Left Ventricular Mass Index. In addition, the presence of left atrial enlargement should raise the suspicion of other metabolic derangements in hypertensive patients.Ann. Clin. Chem. Lab. Med. 2016:2(2);21-25