Pediatric Reference Values and Z Score Equations for Left Ventricular Systolic Strain Measured by Two-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography

There was a weak but significant influence of body size on most left ventricular circumferential and longitudinal systolic strain parameters used in pediatric echocardiography. Z scores are presented for strain measurements normalized to body surface area and adjusted for heteroscedasticity. The use of these normalized values may reduce the risk for misclassification caused by normal variation in myocardial strain values during growth.