Heart weight of Jamaicans: autopsy study of normal cases of hypertension and chronic lung disease

ABSTRACT

The heart weight and the weights of the component parts have been measured in a group of 126 Jamaicans of African origin on whom autopsy was performed at the Pathology Department of the University of the West Indies. This series comprised 58 normal cases, 46 cases of hypertension, and 22 cases of chronic lung disease. The mean heart weight for normal males was 294.5 g and for females 258.5 g. These figures are similar to those reported from Uganda but less than those from Britain and North America. The differences in heart weight are probably correlated with difference in body size. Total heart weight in the hypertensives was greater than in normals because of left ventricular hypertrophy. In chronic lung disease total heart weight was greater than that of normals due to enlargement of the right ventricle and of the combined atria. Right ventricular weight was also increased in cases of hypertension. (AU)