Normal percentile curves for left atrial size in healthy children and adolescents

Background Despite the clinical utility of echocardiography to measure left atrial (LA) structure and function, there are scarcities of data about the percentiles of LA diameter (LA(D)), LA volume (LA(VOL)), and LA volume indexed by body surface area (LA(VOL/BSA)) from prospective population-based studies in healthy children and adolescents from the Southern Cone of Latin America. Methods Echocardiographic studies were obtained in 1095 healthy subjects nonexposed to cardiovascular risk factors (5-24 years). Age- and sex-specific reference values of LA(D), LA(VOL), and LA(VOL/BSA) were generated using parametric regression based on fractional polynomials. Results After covariate analysis (ie, adjusting by age, body surface area), specific sex-specific percentiles were evidenced as necessaries. Age- and sex-specific 1st, 2.5th, 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 95th, 97.5th, and 99th percentile and curves were reported. Our percentiles showed high concordance and complementarity with what was previously reported for the population of North American, European, and Asiatic Populations. Conclusions In children and adolescents, the interpretation of the LA size requires sex-related percentiles. This study provides the largest Argentinean database concerning percentile curves of LA(D), LA(VOL), and LA(VOL/BSA) obtained in healthy children and adolescents. These data are valuable in that they provide values with which data of populations of children, adolescents, and young adults can be compared.