Age-related changes in normal Chinese hearts.

The heart weights, ventricular wall thickness and valve circumferences were measured in 507 autopsy specimens of normal hearts from persons aged from 10 to 90 years. The heart weights increased with age and were greater in the males than in the females, except from the 6th to 8th decades where they were reversed. The body weight was the best predictor of heart weight. The ventricular wall thickness in males did not differ significantly from that in females. The values of the indexed left ventricular wall thickness (i.e. values divided by BSA) in the females exceeded those in the males from the 6th to 9th decades. The mean valve circumference was greater in the males but it was significant (P < 0.05) only for the tricuspid valves at the 9th decade of life. The pulmonary valve circumferences were greater than the aortic for all decades and the ratio of the aortic to pulmonary valve circumference remained constant. In the clinical evaluation of the specimens of Chinese hearts, the absence of the aged-related dilatation of the aorta described in Caucasian hearts should be duly taken into account.