Echocardiographic comparison of left ventricular structure and function in hypertensive patients with primary aldosteronism and essential hypertension.

Background: In experimental renovascular hypertension, aldosterone has been implicated in myocardial remodeling and fibrosis, but it is uncertain whether excess aldosterone effects left ventricular structure and function in hypertensive patients.

Methods: Hypertensive patients from the Cardiovascular Center of the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York and the Russian Cardiovascular Research Institute, Moscow, Russia, were studied. The sample included 35 patients with primary aldosteronism and 35 controls with essential hypertension matched for age, gender, and blood pressure (BP). Left ventricular (LV) mass, endocardial and midwall fractional shortening, and circumferential end-systolic stress were calculated. The observed/predicted midwall shortening ratio was used as an index of LV performance corrected for afterload.

Results: Primary aldosteronism and essential hypertension patients had comparable LV dimensions, wall thickness, mass, mass/body surface area, and mass/height. Endocardial and midwall fractional shortening, and afterload-corrected midwall shortening were similar in primary aldosteronism and essential hypertension groups from both clinics. Moreover, logistic regression analysis using BP, body mass index, height, gender, and center as covariates failed to identify statistical differences in LV geometry or systolic function between primary aldosteronism and essential hypertension patients.

Conclusions: Patients with primary aldosteronism, a state characterized by chronic aldosterone excess, had similar LV geometry and systolic function compared to essential hypertension patients matched for age, gender, and BP. This argues against important independent associations between aldosterone and these aspects of LV response to human hypertension.