Pathologic Echocardiographic Findings among Turkish Adults: an Epidemiologic Observational Study

Purpose: Echocardiography is used in diagnosis and follow-up of congenital and acquired cardiovascular disease and in assessment of cardiac structure and function. There are many studies that used echocardiography to evaluate cardiovascular diseases but the number of the epidemiological studies is scarce. The aim of this study is to research the frequency of cardiovascular diseases detected by echocardiography. Methods: The study was conducted in May and June, 2010 in the Social health center located in Yigilca, the north-east of Duzce. 400 adult subjects (>17 years old) from each family physician representatively stratified for sex, age and for rural-urban distribution were randomly assigned and invited to participate the study. A total of 2231 subjects with a mean age of 50±15 (age range 18 to 92) were interviewed. Data were obtained by measurements and echocardiography. Results: There was significant difference between men and women in all measurements except deceleration time (DT), Ejection Time (ET) and pulmonary artery pressure PAP values (p<0.01). The prevalence of diastolic dysfunction (DD) was 67.6%. There was no significant difference between men and women (p>0.05). The prevalence of ascending aorta dilatation was 3.2%, heart failure was 1.7%, bicuspid aorta was 0.8%, aortic stenosis was 3.4%. Aortic regurgitation, tricuspid regurgitation and pulmonary regurgitation was detected in 38.9%, 52.8%, 12.4%. Conclusion: Because it is a portable and cheap method, the rate of using echocardiography in assessment of cardiovascular diseases increased. It should not ignore that by early detection and treatment, progression of diseases can be prevented and life quality of patients can be improved. Further epidemiological studies are needed to get more information about this issue.