[Atrial ejection force. Findings in healthy subjects].

Atrial ejection force was measured by Doppler echocardiography from the A-wave of the transmitral inflow pattern. Atrial ejection force was measured in 72 normal subjects, 36 males and 36 females aged 20 to 80 years, 12 patients for each decade. Using bivariate correlation we analyzed the relationship between atrial ejection force and biological parameters: age, height, weight, body surface; clinical parameters: heart rate, systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure; echocardiographic measures: left atrial dimensions. A significant correlation between atrial ejection force and age (r = 0.9, p < 0.001) was found. The atrial ejection force was also correlated with left atrial dimensions (p < 0.01). No relations between atrial ejection force and other clinical parameters were found. The atrial ejection force is a potentially useful parameter for assessing the atrial contribution to diastolic performance, the age-corrected normogram is essential when assessing atrial ejection force in individual patients.