Spontaneous Brugada electrocardiogram patterns are rare in the German general population: results from the KORA study.
OBJECTIVE
The Brugada syndrome is a rare, potentially fatal primary cardiomyopathy. Patients are identified by symptoms and typical electrocardiogram (ECG) patterns. Prevalence of spontaneous Brugada ECG patterns in the general population is unknown.


RESULTS
We analysed 12-lead resting ECGs of 4149 men and women aged 25-74 years from the population-based KORA Study. Computer-assisted analysis identified ECGs with J-point elevation in leads V1-V3 and QRS duration <or=150 ms. Positive ECGs were re-evaluated independently by expert cardiologists. Computer-assisted analysis identified 250/4149 ECGs, predominantly from male probands (206/250) who were younger (41.0 +/- 11.9 vs. 52.1 +/- 13.8 years, P < 0.0001) than males without the ECG sign. After expert review, not a single ECG showed a Brugada ECG pattern. A high percentage of ECGs were considered abnormal, the majority (73) showing left-ventricular hypertrophy. Manual analysis of a representative, randomly selected sample of 351 ECGs without computer-assisted pre-analysis revealed not a single Brugada ECG pattern. True Brugada patterns were reliably identified by screening of a control subset of patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Spontaneous Brugada ECG patterns are rare in the general population and may hence constitute a relevant biological signal. Computer-aided analysis can help to identify abnormal ECGs.
Sinner
Moritz F
MF
Department of Medicine I, University Hospital Munich, Campus Grosshadern, Munich, Germany. moritz.sinner@med.uni-muenchen.de
Pfeufer
Arne
A
Perz
Siegfried
S
Schulze-Bahr
Eric
E
Mönnig
Gerold
G
Eckardt
Lars
L
Beckmann
Britt-Maria
BM
Wichmann
H-Erich
HE
Breithardt
Günter
G
Steinbeck
Gerhard
G
Fabritz
Larissa
L
Kääb
Stefan
S
Kirchhof
Paulus
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D053840:Brugada Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D035583:Rare Diseases; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate