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Lolli L, Batterham AM, Atkinson G. Ejection fraction as a statistical index of left ventricular systolic function: the first full allometric scrutiny of its appropriateness and accuracy. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2018;doi: 10.1111/cpf.12510.
Lolli, L., Batterham, A. M., & Atkinson, G. (2018). Ejection fraction as a statistical index of left ventricular systolic function: the first full allometric scrutiny of its appropriateness and accuracy. Clinical physiology and functional imaging, . https://doi.org/10.1111/cpf.12510
Lolli, Lorenzo, et al. "Ejection fraction as a statistical index of left ventricular systolic function: the first full allometric scrutiny of its appropriateness and accuracy." Clinical physiology and functional imaging vol. (2018). doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/cpf.12510
Lolli L, Batterham AM, Atkinson G. Ejection fraction as a statistical index of left ventricular systolic function: the first full allometric scrutiny of its appropriateness and accuracy. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2018 Feb 20; doi: 10.1111/cpf.12510. Epub 2018 Feb 20. PMID: 29460366.
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Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2018 Feb 20; doi: 10.1111/cpf.12510. Epub 2018 Feb 20.

Ejection fraction as a statistical index of left ventricular systolic function: the first full allometric scrutiny of its appropriateness and accuracy.

Clinical physiology and functional imaging

Lorenzo Lolli, Alan M Batterham, Greg Atkinson

Affiliations

  1. Health and Social Care Institute, School of Health and Social Care, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK.

PMID: 29460366 DOI: 10.1111/cpf.12510

Abstract

Left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) is a ratio that is deemed to accurately normalize stroke volume (SV) to end-diastolic volume (EDV). Ratios are now well-recognized for not normalizing the numerator, in this case SV, consistently for the denominator, EDV. We aimed to provide the first allometric-based scrutiny of the conventional assumptions that underpin the EF ratio. We allometrically modelled untransformed SV and EDV measurements from 112 preclinical heart failure patients in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), and 864 chronic heart failure patients in the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) study. An information-theoretic approach was adopted to assess the relative quality of twelve candidate models for normalizing SV to EDV. None of the conventional underlying assumptions for accurate ratio normalization, for example an allometric exponent ≈1, were upheld for EF. A two-parameter power function with normal, heteroscedastic error was the best model for scaling SV to EDV in both samples. The allometric exponent (95% confidence interval) was 0·776 (0·682 to 0·869) in MESA, and 0·860 (0·857 to 0·864) in TOPCAT. EF was inversely correlated with EDV in MESA (r = -0·67, 95% CI: -0·76 to -0·55) and TOPCAT (r = -0·41, 95% CI: -0·46 to -0·35). Consequently, for fundamental statistical reasons, EF was biased low for people with generally larger EDVs, and vice versa. For the first time, we have demonstrated that EF is an inaccurate statistic for scaling SV to EDV, leading to potential biased inferences for research and individual patients.

© 2018 Scandinavian Society of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords: allometry; ejection fraction; heart failure; left ventricle; normalization

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