Prognostic value of left ventricular mass and its evolution during treatment in the bordeaux cohort of hypertensive patients

Abstract Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular complications independently of other known risk factors, but so far the predictive value of its evolution under treatment has been studied relatively little. Since 1983 we have followed up a cohort of initially untreated hypertensive patients with echocardiographic measurements of left ventricular mass (LVM). We analyzed the data on 474 patients with more than 5 years of follow-up to assess the prognostic value of LVM and its evolution during treatment for high blood pressure. A total of 40 patients were lost to follow-up. The mean follow-up period was 89 ± 31 months. A cardiovascular complication was recorded in 40 individuals. There was a strong link between increased LVM and the occurrence of complications ( P