Echocardiographic Reference Values for Right-Sided Heart Chambers in a Healthy Population

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Abstract

Background: The evaluation of right-sided heart chambers is extremely important for the diagnosis and prognosis of different conditions.However, there is little information in the literature on the reference values of the right-sided heart chamber dimensions and right ventricular function.

Objective: The aim of this study was to establish the reference values of the right-sided heart chambers, to identify the differences associated with sex and anthropometric variables and to evaluate the interobserver and intraobserver variability in determining these values.

Methods: The study included healthy men and women ≥16 years. Strict exclusion criteria were applied. A subgroup of 40 people underwent multiple measurements of the right-sided heart chambers and interobserver and intraobserver variability was estimated.

Results: A total of 438 persons were included; 55.2% (n = 242) were men. Mean age was 34 ± 9 years. There were significant differences in the variables analyzed between men and women that persisted after they were indexed by body surface area. Interobserver concordance (ICC > 0.75) was excellent in 50% of the variables evaluated, fair to good (ICC 0.4 to 0.75) in 47.4% and poor (ICC <0.4) in 2.6%. Intraobserver concordance was excellent in 54.8% of the variables, fair to good in 42.8% and poor in 2.4%.

Conclusion: Reference values for the evaluation of right-sided heart chambers are presented. The differences observed between sexes and related to body surface area emphasize the need for discriminating according to these parameters in daily practice. Interobserver and intraobserver concordance ranged between good and excellent for most of the variables analyzed.