Importance: Current guidelines recommend evaluation for echocardiographically estimated right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) greater than 40 mm Hg; however, this threshold does not capture all patients at risk.
Objectives: To determine if mild echocardiographic pulmonary hypertension (ePH) is associated with reduced right ventricular (RV) function and increased risk of mortality.
Design, setting, and participants: In this cohort study, electronic health record data of patients who were referred for echocardiography at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, from March 1997 to February 2014 and had recorded estimates of RVSP values were studied. Data were analyzed from February 2017 to May 2019.
Exposures: Mild ePH was defined as an RVSP value of 33 to 39 mm Hg. Right ventricular function was assessed using tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), and RV-pulmonary arterial coupling was measured using the ratio of TAPSE to RVSP.
Main outcomes and measures: Associations of mild ePH with mortality adjusted for relevant covariates were examined using Cox proportional hazard models with restricted cubic splines.
Results: Of the 47 784 included patients, 26 758 of 47 771 (56.0%) were female and 6040 of 44 763 (13.5%) were black, and the mean (SD) age was 59 (18) years. Patients with mild ePH had worse RV function compared with those with no ePH (mean [SD] TAPSE, 2.0 [0.6] cm vs 2.2 [0.5] cm; P < .001) and nearly double the prevalence of RV dysfunction (32.6% [92 of 282] vs 16.7% [170 of 1015]; P < .001). Compared with patients with RVSP less than 33 mm Hg, those with mild ePH also had reduced RV-pulmonary arterial coupling (mean [SD] ratio of TAPSE to RVSP, 0.55 [0.18] mm/mm Hg vs 0.93 [0.39] mm/mm Hg; P < .001). An increase in adjusted mortality began at an RVSP value of 27 mm Hg (hazard ratio, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.02-1.70). Female sex was associated with increased mortality risk at any given RVSP value.
Conclusions and relevance: Mild ePH was associated with RV dysfunction and worse RV-pulmonary arterial coupling in a clinical population seeking care. Future studies are needed to identify patients with mild ePH who are susceptible to adverse outcomes.