Left atrial dilatation: A target organ damage in young to middle-age hypertensive patients. The Campania Salute Network

Abstract Background Left atrial (LA) volume is a predictor of outcome in hypertension. It is unclear whether or not this effect depends on coexisting target organ damage (TOD). Purpose To investigate whether LA volume predicts outcome independently of TOD [left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH) and/or carotid plaque] in a registry of hypertensive treated patients. Methods From the Campania Salute Network registry, we selected 5844 young adult hypertensive patients Results 565 (10%) patients exhibited dilated initial eLAVI. During a median follow-up of 49 months, 233 patients developed CV events. Multivariable Cox regression analysis, demonstrated that dilated eLAVI increased risk of incident composite CV events (HR 1.90, 95%CI 1.26–2.88, p  = 0.002), independently of significant effect of older age, male sex, presence LVH and carotid plaque. Conclusions In middle aged, treated hypertensive patients, dilated eLAVI is associated with adverse CV risk profile and is a predictor of CV events independently of other markers of TOD. LA dilatation should be considered as a TOD.