Heart Weight Calculation Tool
Chicago model for post-mortem classification of cardiomegaly
The calculations below take a body’s weight, size, age and gender and calculate the upper limit of normal for heart size, based on a reference population of 3,398 traumatic death cases aged 0 to 40 years in Cook County, Illinois from 2014 to 2017. We define cardiomegaly as any heart with a weight at autopsy that exceeds the 95th percentile of the reference population.
Age at death
Gender
Body height
(Enter One)
Body weight
(Enter One)
Upper limit of normal heart weight, based on 95th percentile of the reference population
Calculations are based on formulas taken from Schoppen et al. “Prevalence of Abnormal Heart Weight After Sudden Death in People Younger than Age 40" J Am Heart Assoc. 2020;9:e015699. DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.120.015699 and are relevant for cases between age 0 and 40 years at death. The model contains fewer patients in infancy and young childhood and may be less accurate in those populations. Details of the formula and its derivation are available in the published manuscript. Disclaimer: This web calculator is provided as a free resource and we do not capture or record the data you enter. Although the calculation is accurate to the best of our knowledge, neither the authors nor Northwestern University can guarantee accuracy or take responsibility for its use in clinical practice. If you encounter errors with the calculator, please contact us at gregory.webster@northwestern.edu.
The development of this model was supported by, in part, by the NIH, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, grant numbers K23HL130554, R01HL128075, U01HL131914, and the American Heart Association Mentored Clinical and Population Research Award 17MCPRP33660457, the American Heart Association Strategically Focused Research Network for Sudden Cardiac Death, and philanthropic support to Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago