Comparative study of the echocardiographic findings in hypertensive and nonhypertensive cardiomyopathy

Thirty adult male patients with advanced myocardial disease were evaluated by echocardiography. Fourteen were hypertensive; 16 were normotensive. In the former group, 7 subjects had hypertension alone; 7 had combined hypertension and alcoholism or ischemia. The latter group included 4 patients with ischemia, 6 patients with alcoholism, and 6 with idiopathic cardiomyopathy. Nine of the 14 hypertensives and 3 of 6 subjects with ischemic disease had diabetes. Compared to the normotensives, the hypertensive subjects had greater posterior wall thickness (10.4 ± 1.3 mm versus 8.3 ±1.1 mm) (p 32 mm in 12 of 16 hypertensive and in only 3 of 16 without hypertension.Reduction in the percentage of systolic thickening of the septum was more pronounced than that of the posterior wall in ...