A prospective study of electrocardiographic features in adult black hypertensive patients at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi.
A prospective study of electrocardiograms (ECG's) was carried out on 102 adult hypertensive African patients at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Their mean age was 45.2 years. All the patients had normal sinus rhythm. Forty seven percent of the patients had sinus bradycardia, although this could be attributable to the drugs they were taking. The duration of the P wave increased with the severity of hypertension. Twenty five percent of the patients had evidence of first degree A-V block. This was an expected finding as most of the patients were on treatment with B-adrenoreceptor blocking agents. Two patients had LBBB and none had RBBB. There were 13 patients with evidence of left axis deviation (LAD) and the incidence increased with the severity of hypertension. S-T, T changes were noted in 12.8% and 29% of patients respectively. Q-Tc duration did not increase with severity of hypertension. Left ventricular hypertrophy was noted in 27.5% of the patients using the criteria devised by Romhilt et al.
College of Medicine, University of Juba, Sudan.
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D000293:Adolescent; D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People; D001919:Bradycardia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006327:Heart Block / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007630:Kenya; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies
D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists