Abstract
Knowledge of the prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities in a population is useful for interpreting the findings. The aim here was to assess the prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities and self-reported comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors according to sex and age group among Brazilian primary care patients. Observational retrospective study on consecutive primary care patients in 658 cities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, whose digital electrocardiograms (ECGs) were sent for analysis to the team of the Telehealth Network of Minas Gerais (TNMG). All ECGs analyzed by the TNMG team in 2011 were included. Clinical data were self-reported and electrocardiographic abnormalities were stratified according to sex and age group. A total of 264,324 patients underwent ECG examinations. Comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors were more frequent among women, except for smoking. Atrial fibrillation and flutter, premature beats, intraventricular blocks, complete right bundle branch block and left ventricular hypertrophy were more frequent among men, and nonspecific ventricular repolarization abnormalities and complete left bundle branch block among women. Electrocardiographic abnormalities were relatively common findings, even in the younger age groups. The prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities increased with age and was higher among men in all age groups, although women had higher frequency of self-reported comorbidities.
Highlights
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide[1] and have a high socioeconomic impact.[2]
Some specific aspects of women’s ECGs in relation to men’s ones are discussed. This retrospective observational study included all ECGs that were recorded in primary care units and analyzed by cardiologists of the Telehealth Network of Minas Gerais (TNMG), Prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities in primary care patients according to sex and age group
Digital 12-lead electrocardiograms were produced using tele-electrocardiograph machines made by Tecnologia Eletrônica Brasileira (TEB; São Paulo, Brazil) or Micromed Biotechnology (Brasília, Brazil) and were sent over the internet to an analysis center, from which the examinations were immediately forwarded to a team of cardiologists, who analyzed the ECGs using standardized criteria.[10]
Summary
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide[1] and have a high socioeconomic impact.[2]. Prior knowledge of the prevalence of abnormalities in the population studied is useful for interpreting ECG findings.[3] electrocardiographic abnormalities are independently associated with the incidence of coronary heart disease and with poor cardiac disease outcomes.[4]. The prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities varies with age and sex.[3,5,6] Recently, many studies have focused on the unique aspects of cardiac disease in women, in order to optimize its diagnosis and treatment.[4,7,8] In this regard, the present study may contribute to the literature on the subject through highlighting the differences in ECG findings between men and women in separate age groups, in a large sample of Brazilian primary care patients, and through discussing the particularities of female ECGs in relation to male ones. The aim here was to assess the prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities and self-reported comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors according to sex and age group among Brazilian primary care patients. The prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities increased with age and was higher among men in all age groups, women had higher frequency of self-reported comorbidities
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