August 1, 1987Annals of Internal Medicine
Primary Pulmonary Hypertension
Authors
Discussion
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Implication
Highlights diagnostic delays in primary pulmonary hypertension; leaves open whether earlier recognition improves outcomes with current therapies.
Key Points
- To characterize the demographic features, clinical presentation, pulmonary function, and hemodynamic status of patients with primary pulmonary hypertension using standardized criteria.
- Multicenter national registry across 32 centers enrolling N=187 patients diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension under uniform criteria.
- Assessed demographic data, symptom history, pulmonary function testing, and invasive hemodynamic measurements.
- The cohort had a mean age of 36 ± 15 years with a female-to-male ratio of 1.7:1 and an average delay of 2 years between initial symptom onset and clinical diagnosis.
- Most frequent presenting symptoms were dyspnea (60%), fatigue (19%), and syncope or near syncope (13%), with positive antinuclear antibodies in 29% and Raynaud phenomenon in 10%.
- Hemodynamic testing showed a mean pulmonary artery pressure of 60 ± 18 mm Hg, a pulmonary vascular resistance index of 26 ± 14 mm Hg/L/min·m², and a cardiac index of 2.3 ± 0.9 L/min·m².
Cite This Study
Stuart Rich (1987) studied this question.