title: ECG detection of left ventricular hypertrophy:  the simpler, the better?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  ECG is commonly employed to identify left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and a high risk of cardiovascular events (CVE) in hypertensive patients. However, the multiplicity of the existing criteria does not simplify interpretation of the data. We compared a number of common criteria in hypertensive patients by taking as references left ventricular mass (LVM) measured by echocardiography and prediction of incident CVE.
  
  
  METHODS
  The population was a cohort of 958 hypertensive patients (mean age 48 years) recruited before any treatment and having benefited from an ECG and an echocardiography. We evaluated their outcomes at regular intervals. We examined the relationships between several ECG criteria of LVH and LVM as well the occurrence of CVE.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the various parameters tested (Sokoloff, Cornell, Cornell product) the simple measurement of the RaVL wave offered the best correlations to LVM and the best prediction of the existence of an echocardiographic LVH (receiver-operating characteristic curves). Its alterations were best correlated with the changes in LVM during the follow-up period. Moreover, this simple measurement offered the best performance for the prediction of the occurrence of CVE (123 events after a mean lapse of 12 years).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the interpretation of an ECG in the hypertensive patient, the single measurement of the R wave in aVL gives results at least as good as those of more complicated indices, which do not appear to contribute further to the diagnosis of LVH and the prediction of cardiovascular risk.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology-Hypertension Department, Hôpital Saint André, University Hospital of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France. philippe.gosse@chu-bordeaux.fr
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gosse
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coulon
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cremer
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Papaioannou
authors.forename: Sunthareth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yeim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002309:Cardiology / Q000379:methods; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D004566:Electrodes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012306:Risk