Relation of p - wave dispersion with presystolic a - wave and aortic valve sclerosis in asymptomatic subjects

P-wave duration and P-wave dispersion (PWD) are thought to be the surrogate marker of devoloping atrial fibrillation (AF). The main purpose of present study was to investigate the association between presystolic wave (PSW), aortic valve sclerosis, and PWD.

Patients with sinus rhythm admitted to the cardiology outpatient clinic were consecutively enrolled. Maximum (Pmax) and minimum (Pmin) P-wave duration and PWD were measured. Echocardiography was used to assess the aortic valve morphology and presence of PSW. The patients were divided into two groups according to presence or absence of AVSc and PSW.

A total of 100 patients were enrolled consecutively. Patients with both PSW and AVSc had higher PWD values compared with those without PSW (42 ± 15 vs 65 ± 20) and AVSc (52 ± 21 vs 69 ± 19). The patients were categorized on the basis of median PWD values. According to univariate analysis, there was significant association between PWD and presence of PSW (P: .004), presence of AVS (P: .011), hypertension (P: .01) interventricular septal thickness (IVST) (P: .026), and posterior wall thickness (PWT) (P: .022). Multivariate logistic regression analyses demonstrated presence of PSW (95% confidence interval (1.058-6.505, P: .037) as an independent determinant of PWD.

Assessment of presystolic A-wave on echocardiography examination may provide important information regarding the atrial conduction velocities that is a electrophysiological cause of AF. While there was a significant association between AVSc and PWD in univariate analysis, this significance disappeared in multivariate analysis.