For the purpose of detecting early left ventricle (LV) abnormalities in normotensive offspring of hypertensive parents (EH+), 23 normotensive sedentary male EH+ (age 25 ± 3 years) and 20 matched offspring of normotensive families (EH-), underwent: clinic bloop pressure (BP) measurement, 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), frequency-domain parameters of autonomic heart rate control and conventional and Doppler tissue echocardiographic (DTE) study of both ventricles, including relative wall thickness (RWT) as an index of LV remodeling. EH+ subjects had slightly higher office systolic and diastolic (P < 0.05), average 24-hour systolic (P < 0.001), diastolic (P < 0.01), and mean BP (P < 0.05). No between-group differences were detected for heart rate variability, LV mass and systolic and diastolic function in both ventricles. RWT was greater in EH+ (0.38 ± 0.05 vs. 0.34 ± 0.03 SD; P < 0.01), which was significantly related, at the univariate analysis, to the condition of EH+ (P < 0.004) and to the clinic and ambulatory BP parameters as well (P = 0.06-0.01). However, at the stepwise multiple regression analysis, with RWT used as the dependent variable, only the condition of EH+ was independently associated with RWT (P < 0.008), whereas BP did not. RWT, according to receiver operating characteristic curves analysis, predicted the condition of EH+ (cutoff point 0.369, specificity 90%, sensitivity 65%). Our data suggest that an higher RWT, as an index towards LV concentric remodeling, is the earliest change in LV geometry in EH+ subjects, independent of any slight elevation in BP. Thus, RWT measurement may be a quite specific tool to detect early LV alterations due to the condition of EH+.
© 2011, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.