Echocardiographic M-mode measurements were made using the American Society of Echocardiography convention with a standardized protocol. The ECG algorithms of the Novacode program were used for ECG prediction of the left ventricular mass. The evaluation was performed in participants of the Cardiovascular Health Study, a population-based sample of 5,201 men and women aged 65 years and older. The Novacode ECG model overestimated echocardiographic left ventricular mass adjusted for body weight. Both the ECG and echocardiographic estimates demonstrated about an equally significant association with overt and subclinical disease and risk factors for left ventricular hypertrophy.
Body weight is the most significant correlate of left ventricular mass in older men and women.
Echocardiographic and ECG estimates of left ventricular mass have similar associations with factors related to left ventricular hypertrophy and with markers of overt and subclinical cardiovascular disease, although the strength of these associations varied in some categories.