Prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities in a middle-aged, biracial population: Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study.
BACKGROUND
Few studies to date have described the prevalence of electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities in a biracial middle-aged cohort.


RESULTS
Participants underwent measurement of traditional risk factors and 12-lead ECGs coded using both Minnesota Code and Novacode criteria. Among 2585 participants, of whom 57% were women and 44% were black (mean age 45 years), the prevalence of major and minor abnormalities was significantly higher (all P < .001) among black men and women compared to whites. These differences were primarily due to higher QRS voltage and ST/T-wave abnormalities among blacks. There was also a higher prevalence of Q waves (Minnesota Code 1-1, 1-2, 1-3) than described by previous studies. These racial differences remained after multivariate adjustment for traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Black men and women have a significantly higher prevalence of ECG abnormalities, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, than whites in a contemporary cohort of middle-aged participants.
Walsh
Joseph A
JA
Department of Preventive Medicine and Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Prineas
Ronald
R
Daviglus
Martha L
ML
Ning
Hongyan
H
Liu
Kiang
K
Lewis
Cora E
CE
Sidney
Steven
S
Schreiner
Pamela J
PJ
Iribarren
Carlos
C
Lloyd-Jones
Donald M
DM
D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001741:Black or African American