Effects of Race, Cardiac Mass, and Cardiac Load on Myocardial Function Trajectories from Childhood to Young Adulthood: The Augusta Heart Study

BACKGROUND: The overall goal of this longitudinal study was to determine if the Black population has decreased myocardial function, which has the potential to lead to the early development of congestive heart failure, compared with the White population. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 673 subjects were evaluated over a period of 30 years including similar percentages of Black and White participants. Left ventricular systolic function was probed using the midwall fractional shortening (MFS). A longitudinal analysis of the MFS using a mixed effect growth curve model was performed. Black participants had greater body mass index, higher blood pressure readings, and greater left ventricular mass compared with White participants (all P<0.01). Black participants had a 0.54% decrease of MFS compared with White participants. As age increased by 1 year, MFS increased by 0.05%. As left ventricular mass increased by 1 g, MFS decreased by 0.01%. As circumferential end systolic stress increased by 1 unit, MFS decreased by 0.04%. The MFS trajectories for race differed from early age to young adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in myocardial function mirror the race‐dependent variations in blood pressure, afterload, and cardiac mass, suggesting that myocardial function depression occurs early in childhood in populations at high cardiovascular risk such as Black participants.