Titel: Reported physical symptoms during screening echocardiography is
not associated with the presence of suspected hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy.
Abstract
Background: The prevalence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)
can be silent and can present with sudden death as the first
manifestation of this disease. The goal of this study was to evaluate
any association between reported physical symptoms with the presence of
suspected HCM. Method: The Anthony Bates Foundation has been
performing screening echocardiography across the United States for the
prevention of sudden death since 2001. A total of 4,120 subjects between
the ages of 6 and 79 underwent echocardiographic screening. We evaluated
any association between any symptoms and suspected HCM defined as any
left ventricular wall thickness ≥ 15 mm. Results: The total
prevalence of suspected HCM in the entire study population was 1.1%.
The presence of physical symptoms were not associated with HCM (chest
pain in 4.3% of participant with HCM vs. 9.9% of the control, p=0.19,
palpitation in 4.3% of participant with HCM vs. 7.3% of the control.,
p=0.41, shortness of breath in 6.4% of participant with HCM vs. 11.7%
of the control., p=0.26, lightheadedness in 4.3% of participant with
HCM vs. 13.1% of the control., p=0.07, ankle swelling in 2.1% of
participant with HCM vs. 4.0% of the control., p=0.52, dizziness in
8.5% of participant with HCM vs. 12.2% of the control., p=0.44).
Conclusion: Echocardiographic presence of suspected HCM is not
associated with a higher prevalence of physical symptoms in the
participants undergoing screening echocardiography. This finding
confirmed that HCM can be asymptomatic in many patients and a
questionnaire cannot distinguish the HCM population from a control
group.