Prevalences and correlates of ECG abnormalities in the adult Belgian population

Data from 5,817 men and 5,215 women (age range, 25-74 years) who participated in the Belgian Interuniversity Research on Nutrition and Health were used to determine prevalences and associated variables of different abnormalities on the resting electrocardiogram. Electrocardiographic abnormalities were coded according to the Minnesota classification system. About one third of the subjects showed one or more abnormalities on their electrocardiogram. Major abnormalities occurred in 7.3% of the men and in 4.6% of the women. The prevalence of minor abnormalities was twice as high. Minnesota codes 4 (ST abnormalities) and 5 (T wave changes) were found to be the most prevalent in both sexes (9.6 and 10.5% respectively in women and 8.4 and 9.1% respectively in men), while code 2 (QRS axis deviation, 7.9%) and code 7 (ventricular conduction defect, 8.7%) were quite common in men. Most prevalences were rather log-linearly related with age, except codes 6 (atrioventricular conduction defect) and 9 (miscellaneous items). In the asymptomatic subjects, blood pressure showed the strongest positive correlation with minor ST-T abnormalities in both men and women independent of other factors. Other correlates identified by multivariate analyses were serum potassium, serum phosphor, and serum uric acid levels, as well as the intake of diuretics. However, any major, minor, and ST-T abnormalities were, according to sex, differently related to those correlates.