Increased left ventricular mass associated with reduced left ventricular (LV) performance in obese adolescents - (06/07/06)
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The authors wanted to assess the hypothesis that higher LV mass is compensatory for increased cardiac workload in overweight/obese adolescents. Anthropometric, laboratory, and Doppler echocardiographic cardiac parameters were obtained in 460 adolescents from the Strong Heart Study. Compensating for increased workload, left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy was more prevalent in obese (OB:33.5%) and overweight (OW:12.4%) than normal weight subjects (3.5%). However, OB subjects had a fourfold higher probability of carrying an LV mass exceeding values that were compensatory for their cardiac workload. This resulted in reduced LV myocardial performance and increased left atrial force to contribute to LV filling.
