Echocardiographic analysis of pulmonary arterial systolic pressure in pulmonary hypertension.

Introduction: The reliability of pulmonary arterial systolic pressure by transthoracic echocardiography is limited by its variability to define pulmonary hypertension.

Objective: To know the variability of pulmonary arterial systolic pressure estimated by echocardiography in pulmonary hypertension. Their demographic variables were obtained.

Methods: From 2016-2020 subjects with pulmonary hypertension were recruited, with pulmonary artery systolic pressure estimated by transthoracic echocardiography and by right heart catheterization. Data were analyzed using the Bland-Altman descriptive statistic and the intraclass correlation coefficient (95% confidence interval).

Results: 152 subjects, age 60 ± 12 years, were studied. Body mass index 27.64 ± 4.69 kg/m². The pulmonary artery systolic pressure estimated by transthoracic echocardiography 58.99 ± 18.62 vs. cardiac catheterization 55.43 ± 16.79 mmHg. Mean difference (bias) -3.6 (29.1, -36.2) and intraclass correlation coefficient 0.717 (0.610, 0.794).

Conclusions: Variability is wide, and agreement is substantial for pulmonary artery systolic pressure. It is recommended to estimate only as screening for pulmonary hypertension.