Prevention & lipidsSecondary analysis
Age and sex-specific reference ranges of left ventricular strain rates and cardiovascular outcomes: the Copenhagen City Heart Study
- Copenhagen City Heart Study
- secondary validation population, regardless of health status
Authors' conclusion
This is the largest study to report sex- and age-specific normal values for LV strain rates. The LLNs identified, namely for GSRa, provided independent prognostic information regarding adverse cardiovascular events.
Study context
- Population
- Healthy participants free of risk factors from the Copenhagen City Heart Studyhealthy population, median age 46 years (IQR 33, 58), of whom 1193 (61.8%) were female
- Participants
- 1,930 participants
- Comparison
- Left ventricular (LV) strain rates below vs above the sex- and age-appropriate lower limits of normality (LLN)
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Median LV strain rates in the healthy population
GSRs median (IQR −1.07, −0.90)
−0.97 s −1
GSRe median (1.17, 1.70)
1.43 s −1
GSRa median (0.60, 0.93)
0.77 s −1
Further findings
Determinants of strain rates
- All three parameters differed across sexes
- GSRs was negatively correlated with heart rate
- GSRe and GSRa were negatively and positively correlated with age, respectively
Composite of cardiovascular death, incident heart failure and acute myocardial infarction
- GSRa below the sex- and age-appropriate LLN was independently associated with a higher risk of the composite outcome
- Cox regression in a secondary validation population
Original publication
Age and sex-specific reference ranges of left ventricular strain rates and cardiovascular outcomes: the Copenhagen City Heart Study. Heart. Published 4 May 2026. doi:10.1136/heartjnl-2026-327980
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it