Transverse cardiac diameter in frontal chest radiographs of a normal adult Nigerian population.

Background: The possibility of racial differences in heart dimensions has not been extensively investigated in our environment. Cardiac diameter is known to correlate with some anthropometric parameters. Our study was aimed at providing age and sex, specific normal standards of cardiac diameter in an adult Nigerian population. The data were correlated with various anthropometric parameters.

Methods: The transverse cardiac diameter of 303 males and females aged between 20 and 93 years were measured in normal frontal chest radiographs.

Results: The mean values for the 20-39, 40-59 and the > or = 60 year-old males were 13.3, 13.9 and 13.7cm respectively. The corresponding values for the females were 12.0, 13.4 and 13.6cm. The range was from 10.5 to 16.2cm in males and 9.5 to 15.7cm in females. Males had larger mean transverse cardiac diameter than females. The cardiac diameter showed a significant positive correlation with age, weight, body surface area, body mass index but not with height. The strongest correlation in males and females was with body mass index. The mean cardiac diameter of females in our study tended to be larger than the values for Caucasian females.

Conclusion: The strong correlation between the cardiac diameter and body mass index suggests that the cardiac diameter is principally dependent on the body build.