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Low prevalence of ischemic electrocardiographic findings in a Danish population
Morten S A Jensen1, Janus L Thomsen, Svend E Jensen
1Department and Research Unit of General Practice, University of Aarhus, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. mj@alm.au.dk
Objective:
Mortality and incidence of cardiovascular disease have declined during the past 35-40 years. The dual aim of this study is to investigate whether the prevalence of electrocardiographic findings is low compared with older studies and to describe the prevalence of electrocardiographic findings in the Danish population, which has not been reported since 1981.
Design:
Cross-sectional study based on electrocardiograms obtained from a random sample of the population in the district of Ebeltoft, Denmark, December 1991-June 1992.
Results:
The age and sex stratified prevalence of abnormal electrocardiograms ranged from 6.8% (95% CI: 4.01-10.7%) in women to 15.0% (95% CI: 10.6-20.4%) in men aged 41-51 years. Men had significantly more electrocardiographic changes than women (p = 0.004). Frequent findings were signs of earlier myocardial infarction (3.1%; 95% CI: 2.1-4.5%), axis deviation (3.1%; 95% CI: 2.1-4.5%) and incomplete right bundle branch block (1.2%; 95% CI: 0.6-2.2%).
Conclusion:
Prevalence of ischemic electrocardiographic findings is low when compared with studies from the past 50 years.