COMPARISON OF CLINICAL-FEATURES IN PATIENTS GREATER-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-60 YEARS OF AGE TO THOSE LESS-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-40 YEARS OF AGE WITH HYPERTROPHIC CARDIOMYOPATHY

The diagnosis of hypertrophie cardiomyopathy (HC) is based on the demonstration of unexplained left ventricular hypertrophy and may follow the development of symptoms or represent an incidental finding during routine examination from infancy to the grave. The natural history is characterized by a slow progression of symptoms and a high incidence of sudden death.1 In most clinical and prognostic studies, the majority of patients are aged 18 to 60.2-4 Though diagnosis and morphological features of HC in the elderly have been emphasized recently, detailed clinical features and left ventricular function have not been reported.5-9 We compared clinical features in elderly patients with those in the young and also evaluated the influence of age on indexes of systolic and diastolic function derived from equilibrium radionuclide angiography in HC. © 1990.