Prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities in a middle-aged, biracial population: Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study

Abstract

Background: Few studies to date have described the prevalence of electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities in a biracial middle-aged cohort.

Methods and results: Participants underwent measurement of traditional risk factors and 12-lead ECGs coded using both Minnesota Code and Novacode criteria. Among 2585 participants, of whom 57% were women and 44% were black (mean age 45 years), the prevalence of major and minor abnormalities was significantly higher (all P < .001) among black men and women compared to whites. These differences were primarily due to higher QRS voltage and ST/T-wave abnormalities among blacks. There was also a higher prevalence of Q waves (Minnesota Code 1-1, 1-2, 1-3) than described by previous studies. These racial differences remained after multivariate adjustment for traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors.

Conclusions: Black men and women have a significantly higher prevalence of ECG abnormalities, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, than whites in a contemporary cohort of middle-aged participants.

Figure 1

Prevalence of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (Minnesota Code* or Minnesota Code 3-1 [Panel A], Cornell Voltage† or Cornell voltage product ‡ [Panel B]) and Left Ventricular Mass Index§ [Panel C] by race and sex. (n=2585) ‖ * Minnesota Code voltage criteria: 3.1 plus repolarization abnormalities: 4.1 or 4.2 or 4.3 or 5.1 or 5.2 or 5.3 † Cornell voltage (CV) > 2200µV for women; > 2800µV for men ‡ Cornell voltage product > 244 microvolt seconds =CV*QRS duration § A method developed by Rautaharju et al… [Table: see text] * BW = weight in Kg and CV = Cornell Voltage ‖ All values statistically significant to p < 0.0001