Short-term repeatability of the peguero-lo presti electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy criteria

Abstract

Background: Electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy (ECG-LVH) represents preclinical cardiovascular disease and predicts cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality. While the newly developed Peguero-Lo Presti ECG-LVH criteria have greater sensitivity for LVH than the Cornell voltage and Sokolow-Lyon criteria, its short-term repeatability is unknown. Therefore, we characterized the short-term repeatability of Peguero-Lo Presti ECG-LVH criteria and evaluate its agreement with Cornell voltage and Sokolow-Lyon ECG-LVH criteria.

Methods: Participants underwent two resting, standard, 12-lead ECGs at each of two visits one week apart (n = 63). We defined a Peguero-Lo Presti index as a sum of the deepest S wave amplitude in any single lead and lead V₄ (i.e., S_D + SV₄ ) and defined Peguero-Lo Presti LVH index as ≥ 2,300 µV among women and ≥ 2,800 µV among men. We estimated repeatability as an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), agreement as a prevalence-adjusted bias-adjusted kappa coefficient (κ), and precision using 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: The Peguero-Lo Presti index was repeatable: ICC (95% CI) = 0.94 (0.91-0.97). Within-visit agreement of Peguero-Lo Presti LVH was high at the first and second visits: κ (95% CI) = 0.97 (0.91-1.00) and 1.00 (1.00-1.00). Between-visit agreement of the first and second measurements at each visit was comparable: κ (95% CI) = 0.90 (0.80-1.00) and 0.93 (0.85-1.00). Agreement of Peguero-Lo Presti and Cornell or Sokolow-Lyon LVH on any one of the four ECGs was slightly lower: κ (95% CI) = 0.71 (0.54-0.89).

Conclusion: The Peguero-Lo Presti index and LVH have excellent repeatability and agreement, which support their use in clinical and epidemiological studies.

Keywords: electrocardiogram; left ventricular hypertrophy; peguero-lo presti; repeatability; reproducibility.

FIGURE 1

Bland–Altman plot of the agreement between visits 1 and 2 for the Peguero‐Lo Presti index (n = 60). Middle line represents the mean difference, and the two outer lines represent the 95% limits of agreement