Objectives Analysing and summarising the clinical and echocardiographic characteristics of female patients with apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Methods Female patients with apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who were diagnosed by echocardiography or magnetic resonance imaging between Januray 1994 and Januray 2009 at Fuwai hospital were consecutively enrolled in this study. Patients between 45 and 55 years old were classified as perimenopausal group, and the others were classified as non-perimenopausal group.

Results A total of 55 female patients with ApHCM were enrolled, and the average age is (54.89 ± 14.15) years. Interventricular septum thickness (IVST), left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT) and maximum apical thickness is lower in perimenopausal group than non-perimenopausal group (10.09 mm ± 2.51 mm vs 14.26 ± 7.48 mm, P = 0.036 < 0.05; 8.73 ± 1.10 mm vs 9.81 ± 1.64 mm, P = 0.038 < 0.05; 17.82 mm ± 1.60 mm vs 19.74 mm ± 3.92 mm, P = 0.016 < 0.05), indicating cardiac remodelling of patients in perimenopasual period are milder than the non-perimenopasual group. However, there was no significant difference in the frequency of clinical manifestations such as chest pain, palpitation, dizziness, dyspnea, and the NYHA functional classification among groups (P > 0.05, respectively).

Conclusions Dramatic changes in hormone levels may aggravate the symptoms of the perimenopausal female ApHCM patients which may get a certain degree of relief in postmenopausal period. The symptoms of ApHCM patients in perimenopausal period can not completely indicate the severity and the evaluation of the condition of the female ApHCM should based on the combination of clinical manifestations and echocardiographic characteristics as well as women’s special physiological period.