Summary
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading global cause of death, with 17 million attributable deaths each year. The World Health Organization estimates that CVD will kill >?23 million people annually by 2030. Normal results on electrocardiography (ECG) may not rule out the risk for CVDs, with patient history still being important in the screening for CVD.
- Cardiology Clinical Trials
- Imaging Modalities
- Prevention & Screening
- Cardiac Imaging Techniques
- Cardiology & Cardiovascular Medicine
- Cardiology Clinical Trials
- Imaging Modalities
- Prevention & Screening
- Cardiac Imaging Techniques
Normal results on electrocardiography (ECG) may not rule out the risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), with patient history still being important in the screening for CVD, according to a study conducted by Ayoki C. Levy, BA, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA, in collaboration with colleagues at the Heart Foundation of Jamaica in Kingston, Jamaica.
CVDs are the leading global cause of death, with 17 million attributable deaths each year.
The World Health Organization estimates that CVD will kill > 23 million people annually by 2030. Early detection and treatment can reduce associated morbidity and death. A host of ethnic, physiologic, and behavioral risk factors have been linked with CVD, including a sedentary lifestyle, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, age, tobacco exposure, excessive consumption of alcohol, and a family history of CVD.
The present study examined the prevalence of risk factors among 157 adult Jamaicans who underwent ECG to screen for CVD at the Heart Foundation of Jamaica during June 2013. The majority of patients resided in Kingston (n = 87) and the bordering St. Catherine parish (n = 52), with the remainder distributed evenly throughout the country. Patient demographics, medical history, family history, and results of ECG were collected and analyzed.
Sixty-one percent of the participants were women, with a mean age of 59 ± 14 years, mean blood pressure (BP) of 131 ± 20/83 ± 13 mm Hg, mean body mass index of 27.2 ± 5.4 kg/m2, and mean total cholesterol of 5.1 ± .9 mmol/L. Various CVD risk factors were evident, predominantly a family history of CVD and subject hypertension (Figure 1).
Prevalence of CVD Risk Factors
CVD=cardiovascular disease.
Reproduced with permission from AC Levy.
*On November 12, 2014, this was changed from Obses to Obese.
Results of ECG were normal in 62% of the subjects and abnormal in 38%. The CVD risk factors of hypertension, diabetes, mellitus, body mass index, and family history of CVD were not significantly different between subjects with normal and abnormal results on ECG. Subjects with normal results on ECG were more likely to have lower systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP; Table 1).
Association of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors With Normal and Abnormal Results on ECG
Logistic regression analysis revealed DBP to be the strongest predictor of abnormal cardiographic results (β = 2.438, p = .03), with SBP also being significant (β = 1.197, p = .03). There was a trend toward a higher prevalence of abnormal results on ECG in subjects with diabetes (β = .093, p = .82) and those who were overweight (β = .167, p = .66). Although CVD risk factors were prevalent in the study subjects, 62% of the subjects displayed normal results on ECG.
The results indicate that even though ECG is a convenient and easy screening tool for CVD, normal findings do not necessarily indicate the absence of a significant risk for CVD. The familial connection with CVD risk means that history taking should remain a part of CVD screening.
- © 2014 MD Conference Express®
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