P90 Indexing Left Ventricular Mass to Body Size: Which Method is the Most Appropriate in Early Adulthood?

Left ventricular mass (LVM) predicts cardiovascular risk. In early life, LVM is conventionally indexed to height 2.7 [1], although this may not account for sex differences in growth. We investigated allometric scaling of LVM to height, lean mass (LM) and body surface area (BSA) in a UK birth cohort. 861 individuals underwent echocardiography to assess LVM at age 17.7 (SD 0.3) years and 24.0 (SD 0.6) years. LM was quantified using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Group and sex-specific allometric relationships were determined by linear regression, following log transformation of x and y variables (log(y) = a + b * log(x)) (b = scaling exponent). LVM showed a linear relationship with LM and log(height), although the intercepts differed by sex. At age 17, the exponent relating LVM to height in males and females combined was 2.67 (95