Key result
Healthy pediatric echo dimensions, notably IVS thickness, measure smaller in 2000-2004 versus 1980s reference values.
Why the study?
Existing echocardiographic reference values for heart dimensions in healthy children are outdated and differ significantly from current measurements.
Do contemporary echocardiographic dimensions in healthy children differ from historical reference values?
Observational (n=747)
No
Do contemporary echocardiographic dimensions in healthy children differ from historical reference values?
This study provides updated echocardiographic reference values for healthy children, demonstrating that contemporary muscular wall thicknesses are thinner than those measured 20 years ago.
May warrant updated pediatric echo norms; leaves open whether thinner walls reflect true secular change or measurement differences.
AIM: To renew the echocardiographic reference values of heart dimensions in healthy children. METHODS AND RESULTS: Group 1 consisted of 587 children, of which 361 boys and 226 girls, age from birth to 18 years, body weight over 2500 g, who visited the Pediatric Cardiology outclinic during the period January 2000 till March 2004. All included children were diagnosed as normal, or as having innocent heart murmur. The second group was taken from an earlier study and comprised 160 children (77 boys and 83 girls). The echocardiographic measures were taken from conventional M-mode recording of the left ventricle (LV) parasternal long axis view. End diastolic septal (IVS) and LV posterior wall thickness (LVPW) and end diastolic as well as end systolic LV intracavity dimensions were retrospectively analyzed. The regression lines from all measured sizes are significantly different from those collected in the early eighties. Especially the thickness of the IVS is smaller. The regression lines are independent of gender. CONCLUSIONS: New reference values have been found which should replace the presently used ones. There is no difference between boys and girls. Why the muscular wall thicknesses are thinner than found 20 years ago needs to be further explored.
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Overbeek et al. (2005) conducted an observational in Healthy children (n=747). Recent time period (2000-2004) vs. Historical cohort from the early eighties was evaluated on Echocardiographic dimensions (IVS, LVPW, LV intracavity dimensions). Echocardiographic dimensions in healthy Dutch children, particularly interventricular septal thickness, were significantly smaller in 2000-2004 compared to reference values from the early eighties.
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