Reduction of blood pressure already in the normal range further regresses left ventricular mass
- C D Chue1,
- N C Edwards1,
- C J Ferro2,
- R P Steeds1,
- J N Townend1
- 1Departments of Cardiology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- 2Departments of Nephrology Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- Correspondence to Dr Jonathan N Townend, Department of Cardiology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham B15 2TH, UK; john.townend{at}uhb.nhs.uk
- Published Online First 18 May 2010
To the Editor: We read with interest the paper by Simpson and colleagues describing a reduction in left ventricular (LV) mass among predominantly hypertensive subjects with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) despite blood pressure being within the normal range on entry.1 Further lowering of systolic blood pressure (SBP) by 9.3 (8.6) mmHg resulted in a reduction of LV mass index by 4.7 (7.3) g. We have recently demonstrated a comparable drop in LV mass in normotensive (<130/80 mmHg) patients with early chronic kidney disease and normal LV mass at baseline …
