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The Framingham Heart Study

Michael S. Lauer, MD; Keaven M. Anderson, PhD; William B. Kannel, MD; Daniel Levy, MD

JAMA. 1991;266(2):231-236.

Abstract
Objective.
—To determine the relationship of varying degrees of obesity with left ventricular mass and geometry.

Design.
—Survey.

Setting.
—Population-based epidemiologic study.

Participants and Methods.
—M-mode echocardiograms, which were adequate for estimation of left ventricular mass, were obtained in 3922 healthy participants of the Framingham Heart Study. Measured height and weight were used to calculate body-mass index, a measure of obesity.

Results.
—Body-mass index was strongly correlated with left ventricular mass. After adjusting for age and blood pressure, body-mass index remained a strong independent predictor of left ventricular mass, left ventricular wall thickness, and left ventricular internal dimension (P<.01 for all). Body-mass index was associated with prevalence of echocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy, particularly in subjects with a body-mass index exceeding 30 kg/m².

Conclusions.
—Obesity is significantly correlated with left ventricular mass, even after controlling for age and blood pressure. The increase in left ventricular mass associated with increasing adiposity reflects increases in both left ventricular wall thickness and left ventricular internal dimension.

(JAMA. 1991;266:231-236)

Author Affiliations
From the Charles A. Dana Research Institute and the Harvard-Thorndike Laboratory of the Department of Medicine, Divisions of Cardiology (Drs Lauer and Levy) and Clinical Epidemiology (Dr Levy), Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass; the Framingham (Mass) Heart Study of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Drs Anderson and Levy); and the Division of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Boston (Mass) University School of Medicine (Dr Kannel).

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Framingham Heart Study of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 5 Thurber St, Framingham, MA 02215.

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