부산대학교 도서관

Introduction: Left atrial volumetric/mechanical coupling index (LACi) has shown increasing clinical and prognostic utility. LACi is a proposed echocardiographic measurement combining information regarding LA size and function in one measure with no established reference values. The aim of the present study was to establish sex-based normative values and a reference range for LACi in the general population.Methods: The present study included healthy participants from the 5th Copenhagen City Heart Study (2011-2015). Participants were considered healthy when free off heart failure, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, valvular heart diseases and use of heart medication. All participants were examined with echocardiography. LACi was calculated as the ratio of LA maximal volume index and a’ (peak myocardial velocity of the left ventricle at the septal base in late diastole). Reference values were defined based on prediction intervals (PI) between 2.5% and 97.5%.Results: Among 1,939 participants, mean age was 46 ± 16 years, and 61% were female. Median LACi was 2.5 [95% PI (1.16-4.97)]. We observed higher normative values and reference limits of LACi for females than for males (median 2.5 [95% PI (1.19-5.03)] vs 2.4 [95%PI (1.11- 4.73)], p=0.002) (Figure 1). LACi decreased significantly across age categories for all, and when categorized according to sex. In multivariate linear regression models, younger age (beta=-0.230), female sex (b=-0.081), lower BMI (b=-0.067) and high physical activity (reference: no physical activity during leisure time) (b=0.196) were all significantly associated with higher LACi.Conclusions: We report normative reference values and ranges for LACi in a healthy general population and stratified by sex. LACi was higher in females and decreased with age.