AGING AND LEFT-VENTRICULAR FUNCTION IN ELDERLY HEALTHY PEOPLE

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in old age. The use of noninvasive methods has increased the possibility of distinguishing between cardiac disease and changes in left ventricular (LV) structure and function related to normal physiologic aging. Knowledge of age-related changes in the heart is mainly acquired from cross-sectional studies1-7 and few subjects >75 years of age have been studied. The high prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the elderly makes it difficult to find healthy study subjects aged >75 years. Results from several crosssectional studies show that aging is associated with increased LV mass and disturbed LV diastolic filling. Data from the Framingham study indicate that increased LV mass may not be an inevitable consequence of aging in a healthy population.7 The aim of this longitudinal investigation of healthy men and women, aged >75 years and derived from representative population samples, was to study the influence of aging on LV structure and function over a 4-year period. © 1991.