CLINICAL,ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC AND E.C.G. CHANGES IN OFFSPRINGS OF PATIENTS WITH ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION

Abstract

Hypertension is accepted as one of the major disease states afflicting the population. In the present work, the study was conducted upon 40 apparently healthy adults (age 22 to 30 years) in the cardiac outpatient clinic of Menoufiya University. All subjects were male medical students, housofficers and residents. Of the 40 subjects, 20 had a family history of hypertension in at least one of their parents and were compared with 20 subjects without family history of hypertension. All subjects had clinical examination, 12 leads electrocardiogram and echo-doppler study.

There were no detectable difference in blood pressure measurements or echocardiographic systolic functional indices between subjects with and without a family history of hypertension.

The following morphologic parameters were significantly greater in offsprings of hypertensive parents than in those of normotensive parents : interventricular septal thickness index (0.50±0.05 vs 0.45±0.05), posterier wall thickness index (0.49±0.05 vs 0.45±0.06) and left ventricular mass index (113.6±19.5 vs 97.4±21). Doppler derived diastolic functional indices demonstrated