Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesCohort study
Prevalence and determinants of asymmetric septal hypertrophy (ASH) in diseases of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH)
- Analysis of two complementary datasets
- multi-cohort clinical CMR dataset
- UK Biobank healthy reference cohort
Authors' conclusion
ASH is a common but non-specific finding in diseases associated with LVH. Septal asymmetry increases with age and body-size and is more pronounced in women. After adjusting for age, sex, and body-size, disproportionate septal asymmetry was most characteristic of HCM.
Study context
- Population
- Healthy individuals and patients with diseases associated with LVH, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)two datasets · UK Biobank healthy reference cohort 4,020 · multi-cohort clinical CMR dataset 1,655
- Exposure
- Septal-to-lateral wall thickness ratio (SLR) in disease cohorts relative to healthy controls, adjusted for age, sex, and body surface area
- UK Biobank healthy reference cohortn = 4,020
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Prevalence of ASH (SLR≥1.3; Maximum wall thickness (MWT)≥15 mm)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | ΔSLR | P value |
|---|---|---|
| Adjusted excess in septal asymmetry (ΔSLR) relative to healthy controls · adjusted for age, sex, and body surface area | +0.27 | P < 0.001 |
Determinants of SLR in the healthy reference cohort
- Higher SLR independently associated with older age, female sex, and larger body surface area
- P < 0.001
Adjusted excess in septal asymmetry (ΔSLR) relative to healthy controls
- Other disease cohorts showed either no material difference or small negative differences relative to healthy controls; apparent asymmetry partly explained by demographic variation
Original publication
Prevalence and determinants of asymmetric septal hypertrophy (ASH) in diseases of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging. Published 3 August 2026. doi:10.1093/ehjci/jeag203
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it