BACKGROUND: Increased sodium intake has been positively associated with high blood pressure (BP) and hypertensive target organ damage, but associations with cardiac structure in nonhypertensive individuals have yielded inconsistent results. We tested the hypothesis that sodium intake is associated with left ventricular (LV) mass and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), independent of BP, in the community. METHODS: We analyzed the cross-sectional relationships between urinary sodium excretion and LV measurements in a community-based sample of 2660 Framingham Offspring Study participants (mean age 58 years, 56% women and 44% men). Participants with known coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, or renal failure as well as those using diuretics were excluded. Urinary sodium excretion was measured on a spot urine sample and was indexed to urinary creatinine. RESULTS: In sex-specific, multivariable linear regression models adjusting for covariates known to influence LV measurements, log urinary sodium was not associated with LV mass, wall thickness, end-diastolic dimensions, or left atrial size in either sex. Urinary sodium was not related to LVH defined as LV mass >/= sex-specific 80th percentile value. In analyses restricted to hypertensive individuals (n = 983, 470 women), urinary sodium was not associated with LV mass or LVH. CONCLUSIONS: In our large community-based sample, urinary sodium excretion was not related to LV mass, function, or hypertrophy.