Geert Kleinnibbelink

RV Strain in Pulmonary Hypertension 6 143 Table 1 . Inclusion and exclusion criteria Inclusion Exclusion Population Pulmonary hypertension Animal studies Paediatric studies Outcome Echocardiography Right ventricular strain Outcome measures Hazard ratio’s based on multivariate cox-regression analysis Receiver operating curves Model based prediction Other English language Full papers Language other than English Abstract only Conference proceedings We included studies in which either RV free wall longitudinal strain (RVFWS) or RV global longitudinal strain (RVGLS) was evaluated as a predictor for a combined endpoint of mortality and PH-related events or (all-cause) mortality. We excluded those studies, which did not perform Cox proportional hazard ratio analysis, or if the (independent) prognostic value of RVLS in PH patients was not reported. Additionally in order to ensure we determine the independent prognostic value of RVLS in patients with PH only, we excluded studies which performed Cox proportional hazard ratio analysis in a population which included non PH patients (i.e. healthy controls or suspected patients).