title: Prognostic implications of intraventricular conduction delays in a general population: the Health 2000 Survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined the prognostic impact of eight different intraventricular conduction delays (IVCD) in the standard electrocardiogram (ECG) in a community cohort.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data were collected from 6299 Finnish individuals. During a mean 8.2 years (interquartile range 8.1 to 8.3) of follow-up 640 subjects died (10.2%); 277 (4.4%) were cardiovascular deaths. For both sexes, all-cause and cardiovascular mortality was higher in subjects with IVCD than in those without. In Cox regression analysis after adjustment for age and gender, the hazard ratio for cardiovascular mortality for non-specific IVCD was 4.25 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.95-9.26, P < 0.0001) and for left bundle branch block (LBBB) 2.11 (95% CI 1.31-3.41, P = 0.002). Right bundle branch block (RBBB) was not related to additional mortality, while incomplete RBBB (IRBBB) presented a hazard ratio of 2.24 (95% CI 1.064-4.77, P = 0.036).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the general population, non-specific IVCD, LBBB, and IRBBB were associated with increased relative risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. RBBB did not have an impact on cardiovascular mortality either in subjects with or without previous heart disease.
authors.affiliation: Heart Center Co, Tampere University Hospital , Tampere , Finland.
authors.forename: Petri
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Haataja
authors.forename: Ismo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Anttila
authors.forename: Kjell
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nikus
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eskola
authors.forename: Heini
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huhtala
authors.forename: Tuomo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jula
authors.forename: Veikko
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Salomaa
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reunanen
authors.forename: Markku S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: Terho
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lehtimäki
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sclarovsky
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kähönen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D053840:Brugada Syndrome; D002037:Bundle-Branch Block / Q000401:mortality; D000075224:Cardiac Conduction System Disease; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000002:abnormalities*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution
keywords: Bundle branch block; electrocardiography; prognosis; ventricular conduction disturbance