ECG and Echocardiography Findings in Hypertension: A Comparative Study Male versus Female at the Gabriel Touré University Hospital (UH-GT)

Abstract

Background: There is a lack of data on ECG and echocardiographic modifications in hypertensive patients in our setting that justify their inclusion. Methods: This study aims to compare induced ECG and echocardiographic modifications in female and male hypertensive patients. It was a cross-sectional study among outpatients seen in the cardiology department of the UH-GT in Bamako-Mali and included hypertensive patients aged 18 years or older. Data were first collected on a survey form, inserted into a MS Access database, and finally analyzed with IBM SPSS software. Quantitative data are presented as mean with standard deviation and qualitative data as proportion. The level of significance for the statistical test was set at 5%. Results: Of 524 patients, 52.9% were new patients, and 96% had no known cardiac disease. The female sex represented 61.8%. The mean age was 55.33±15.013 years, and obesity based on body mass index was more prevalent in women's sex (81 vs. 19% in men's sex). The global prevalence of HTN was 38.8% in males and 61.1% in females. Among ECG modifications, rhythm disorders and hypertrophy were significantly higher in males, respectively (37.5 vs. 21.9 and 49.5 vs. 29). The most frequent echocardiographic signs included left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD) and interventricular septum (IVS), with 53 mm vs. 49,3 mm and 10 vs. 9,3 mm (<0.001). Other structural echocardiographic changes were an increase in left ventricular mass and index left ventricular mass with, respectively, 210.5 vs. 176.4 g and 115.4 vs. 96.8 g/m2. Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension is high in both sexes, with consequences led by left ventricular hypertrophy in ECG and echocardiography. The higher prevalence of female HTN must be further studied, as must the associated factors.