Impact of left ventricular geometry on prognosis in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (the LIFE study)

AIMS: Less is known about the relation between in-treatment left ventricular (LV) geometry and risk of cardiovascular events. We assessed LV geometric patterns on baseline and annual echocardiograms as time-varying predictors of the primary composite endpoint (cardiovascular death, stroke, and myocardial infarction) in 937 hypertensive patients with LV hypertrophy during 4.8 years losartan- or atenolol-based treatment in the Losartan Intervention for Endpoint reduction in hypertension (LIFE) echocardiography substudy. METHODS AND RESULTS: LV geometry was determined from LV mass/body surface area and relative wall thickness in combination. At end of the study, 52% of patients with initial LV hypertrophy had normal geometry (P < 0.001). In particular, concentric remodelling was reduced by 82% and concentric LV hypertrophy by 84%. Development of LV hypertrophy was seen in <5%. In Cox regression analyses including LV geometric patterns as time-varying variables and adjusting for treatment, Framingham risk score, race, and time-varying systolic blood pressure, the patterns independently predicted higher risk of primary composite endpoints [HR 2.99 (1.16-7.71) for concentric remodelling, HR 1.79 (1.17-2.73) for eccentric hypertrophy, and HR 2.71 (1.13-6.45) for concentric hypertrophy; all P < 0.05]. CONCLUSION: In hypertensive patients with ECG LV hypertrophy, in-treatment LV geometry by echocardiography adds information on risk of cardiovascular events.