The relation of age to the thickness of the interventricular septum, the posterior left ventricular wall and their ratio.

We obtained echocardiographic measurements of interventricular septal and posterior left ventricular wall thickness in 100 apparently normal subjects in whom there was no evidence or history of coronary artery disease, hypertension or prolapsing mitral valve. Subjects were divided into five age groups of 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60-70 years and there were 20 subjects in each group. Measurements of interventricular septum and posterior left ventricular wall thickness were made in each subject at both mitral and sub-mitral levels at the time of Q wave inscription, and the measurements were related to body surface area. The interventricular septum increased from a median of 8.3 mm in the age group 20-29 to 11.2 mm in the group 60-70, whereas the posterior left ventricular wall increased from 7.5 mm to 9.8 mm. The difference in the medians between the groups 20-29 and 60-70 was statistically significant for both interventricular septum and posterior left ventricular wall (P less than 0.02). Our data showed that interventricular septal, posterior left ventricular wall thickness measurements and their ratio should be related to age in order to assess their significance.