The cardiovascular risk factor, left ventricular hypertrophy, is highly prevalent in stable, treated angina pectoris.

Background: In coronary artery disease (CAD), a potentially reversible factor leading to cardiac death is left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). However, LVH will only have a large impact overall in CAD if it is highly prevalent. Therefore we aimed to assess the prevalence of LVH in patients with stable, treated angina and its relationship with blood pressure (BP).

Methods: Three hundred twenty-two consecutive patients with angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease were recruited. Echocardiographic LV mass was performed and correlated with both office and 24-h ambulatory BP.

Results: Of the 267 patients with LV mass measurements, 195 (73%) had LVH. The mean 24-h ambulatory BP reading was systolic 125 +/- 12 mm Hg and diastolic 68 +/- 8 mm Hg in the LVH group. Of the LVH patients 62% had a nonhypertensive 24-h BP reading. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, factors independently related to LVH were history of hypertension (odds ratio [OR] 1.848, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.051-3.248), body mass index (OR 1.085, 95% CI 1.011-1.165), and age (OR 1.039, 95% CI 1.004-1.076).

Conclusions: We conclude that echo LVH is very common in patients with stable, treated angina and the majority of these patients had a nonhypertensive BP at the time of study. Studies are now required to determine whether identifying and vigorously treating LVH in CAD would reduce the risk of premature death in these patients.