Science / Medicine : Enlarged Heart Magnifies Risk

People with a relatively common heart condition appear to face substantially increased risks of developing or dying from heart disease, the nation’s foremost killer, researchers said last week.

A study of more than 3,000 people age 40 and over found a “significant” relationship between a condition that leaves the heart enlarged and an increased incidence of fatal heart attacks and other types of heart disease, said Dr. Daniel Levy of the Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts.

The new research indicates that for every 40% increase in the thickness and mass of the heart, “the risk of dying increases twofold,” said Levy, co-author of the study.

In left ventricular hypertrophy--a common result of high blood pressure--the heart wall increases in size because it has to work harder to pump blood through arteries partially blocked by fatty deposits known as plaque.

The findings indicated that heart wall enlargement is “far more common” than other diagnostic tools had indicated, they said in the New England Journal of Medicine.