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Heart Weights Among Octogenarians
Author(s) -
HOWELL TREVOR H.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1981.tb01262.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cardiology , autopsy , atheroma , calcification , coronary arteries , atrophy , muscle hypertrophy , artery
The weights of hearts among 110 octogenarians were studied. At autopsy they ranged from 174 to 785 gm, which is more than the customary norm for adults. In only 15 subjects were the hearts considered completely normal. Other hearts showed hypertrophy, friable muscle, fatty infiltration, brown atrophy, a flabby myocardium, valvular changes, and atheroma or calcification of the coronary arteries. The frequency of these changes and their relationship to heart weight are discussed. A previous study of heart weights among 39 nonagenarians had shown weights ranging from 159 to 539 gm — somewhat less than those among the octogenarians. Heavy heart weights are common in these two age groups.