Prevalence and prognostic value of poor R-wave progression in standard resting electrocardiogram in a general adult population. The Health 2000 Survey.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the prevalence and prognostic impact of poor R-wave progression (PRWP) in a standard electrocardiogram (ECG) in a general population.


METHODS
Data and standard resting ECG recording were collected from a large nationally representative (random sample) health examination survey conducted in Finland in 2000-2001. The final study population consisted of 5613 individuals.


RESULTS
The prevalence of PRWP (defined as RV3 < or = 3 mm and RV2 < or = RV3) was 7.0% in women and 2.7% in men (P< or = 0.001 for difference). During follow-up of 70 +/- 9 months (mean +/- SD), 317 patients died (5.6%). Both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality was higher in the group with PRWP than in those without PRWP in both women and men. In Cox regression analysis after adjustment for age, hypertension, diabetes, previous myocardial infarction, and coronary heart disease, the relative risk for all-cause mortality for PRWP was 1.69 (95% CI 0.89-3.22, P=0.112) for men and 2.00 (95% CI 1.28-3.13, P=0.002) for women. For cardiovascular mortality the relative risk for individuals with PRWP was 1.85 (0.74-4.65, P=0.19) for men and 3.02 (1.54-5.93, P=0.001) for women.


CONCLUSIONS
PRWP is a common ECG finding and predicts risk for total and cardiovascular mortality in women in a general population.
Anttila
Ismo
I
Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Cardiology, Seinäjoki Central Hospital, Finland.
Nikus
Kjell
K
Nieminen
Tuomo
T
Jula
Antti
A
Reunanen
Antti
A
Salomaa
Veikko
V
Kattainen
Anna
A
Nieminen
Markku S
MS
Lehtimäki
Terho
T
Virtanen
Vesa
V
Sclarovsky
Samuel
S
Kähönen
Mika
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012306:Risk; D012737:Sex Factors