Abstract 10188: Does Myocardial Contraction Fraction Predict Mortality in the Oldest Old

Background: People over the age of 85 are the world's most rapidly growing age group and have a high incidence of cardiovascular mortality. Ejection fraction (EF), the most commonly used index of systolic function, may be limited prognostically in this population given the high incidence of left ventricular hypertrophy and myocardial contraction fraction (MCF) may be more accurate. The objective of this longitudinal study was to assess the prognosis of MCF in an age-homogenous, community-dwelling population of subjects. Methods: Subjects were recruited from the Jerusalem Longitudinal Cohort Study. Echocardiography was performed with a portable echocardiograph at the subjects place of residence. Standard echocardiographic assessment of cardiac structure and function including MCF was performed. 5-year mortality was assessed via a centralized government database. Results: 418 subjects (197 males, 218 females) were enrolled in the study of whom 113 (27%) died at the time of 5-year follow-up. Subjects who died had significantly lower MCF (32 ± 14% vs. 36 ± 12%; p < 0.004) and EF (51.6 ± 11.6% vs 56.3 ± 9.4%; p< 0.0001) than survivors. On Kaplan-Meier analysis MCF was more significantly associated with mortality than EF (p< 0.0005 vs p < 0.04). The association between MCF and mortality remained significant on multivariate analysis as both a categorical and continuous variable while EF was only significant as a continous variable. Conclusions: MCF assessed by home echocardiography provides additional prognostic information to EF and may be a superior predictor of 5-year mortality in a community-dwelling population of the oldest old.