P-wave dispersion: relationship to left ventricular function in sickle cell anaemia

The prognostic implications of P-wave dispersion in patients with a variety of cardiac disease conditions are increasingly being recognised. The relationship between P-wave dispersion and left ventricular function in sickle cell anaemia is unknown.

This study was aimed at evaluating the relationship between P-wave dispersion and left ventricular function in adult Nigerian sickle cell anaemia patients.

Between February and August 2007, a total of 62 sickle cell anaemia patients (aged 18-44 years; mean 28.27 ± 5.58) enrolled in the study. These were drawn from patients attending the adult sickle cell clinic of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu. An equal number of age- and gender-matched normal subjects served as controls. All the participants were evaluated with electrocardiography and echocardiography. P-wave dispersion was defined as the difference between the maximum and minimum P-wave duration measured in a 12-lead electrocardiogram.

P-wave duration and P-wave dispersion were significantly higher in patients than in controls. Significant correlation was demonstrated between P-wave dispersion and age in the patients (r = 0.387; p = 0.031). A comparison of subsets of sickle cell anaemia patients and controls with comparable haematocrit values (30-35%) showed significantly higher P-wave duration and P-wave dispersion in the patients than in the controls. The P-wave duration in patients and controls, respectively, was 111.10 ± 14.53 ms and 89.14 ± 16.45 ms (t = 3.141; p = 0.006). P-wave dispersion was 64.44 ± 15.86 ms in the patients and 36.43 ± 10.35 ms in the controls (t = 2.752; p = 0.013). Significant negative correlation was found between P-wave dispersion and left ventricular transmitral E/A ratio (r = -0.289; p = 0.023).

These findings suggest that P-wave dispersion could be useful in the evaluation of sickle cell patients with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Further prospective studies are recommended to evaluate its prognostic implication on the long-term disease outcome in sickle cell disease patients.