Improvement of left ventricular mass with antihypertensive therapy in children with hypertension

There is paucity of data on the regression of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in hypertensive children. This study assessed the effects of antihypertensive therapy on left ventricular mass in children with and without LVH. Medical records of hypertensive patients who had a baseline and follow-up echocardiogram (echo 1, echo 2) were reviewed. Fifteen of 22 treated patients had LVH at echo 1. Enalapril alone or combined was used in 21/22 cases. Echo 2 was performed at a mean interval of 15 ± 7 months. The LVH group showed significant decrease in systolic blood pressure z-score (SBPZ) (2.89 ± 1.61 to 1.40 ± 1.19; p = 0.01), diastolic blood pressure z-score (DBPZ) (1.44 ± 0.90 to 0.26 ± 0.82; p < 0.001), and LV mass index (LVMI) (56.2 ± 12.50 to 43.7 ± 8.30; p = 0.001), but no significant change in body mass index z-score (BMIZ) (1.79 ± 0.75 to 1.69 ± 0.69; p = 0.74). In the no-LVH group, SBPZ (3.03 ± 1.68 to 2.27 ± 1.81; p = 0.356), DBPZ (1.00 ± 0.87 to 0.63 ± 0.68; p = 0.409), BMIZ (1.08 ± 0.98 to 1.27 ± 0.89; p = 0.672), and LVMI (29.47 ± 5.51 to 33.89 ± 3.06; p = 0.374) did not change significantly. Simple linear regression demonstrated that the change in LVMI in the combined group had a significant correlation (r = 0.477; p = 0.025) with the percentage change in SBPZ. This study demonstrates that LVH in hypertensive children improves with effective blood pressure control.