The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) in a group of elderly Spanish individuals. Data were obtained on a subgroup of 371 individuals from the Lista district of Madrid, Spain who were taking part in the EPICARDIAN study. In hypertensive subjects, the prevalence of LVH was 51.8%-61.8%, that of LVDD was 86%, and that of LVSD was 6.2%. In normotensive subjects, the prevalences were 14%-30% for LVH, 86% for LVDD, and 6% for LVSD. The isovolumic relaxation time was 115+/-33 ms in the hypertensive group and 105+/-24 ms in the normotensive group. In this study, the only factor that differentiated between the diagnoses of LVDD due to age and LVDD due to hypertension was a longer isovolumic relaxation time.