Electrocardiogram parameters in patients with hypertensive heart failure in Abakaliki, South-Eastern Nigeria

Hypertension and Hypertensive Heart Failure (HHF) constitutes a growing burden of non-communicable forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Africa. This work was designed to investigate Electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters in HHF subjects. A cross-sectional study involving 100 subjects of equal number of HHF and normal subjects were used. Questionnaires were administered; socio-demographic and medical profiles of the subjects were obtained. ECG of each of the participants was conducted and results read for P duration, PR interval, QRS duration, QTc and Sokolow-Lyon index. Among the subjects with HHF, 56% were elderly and 44% were middle-aged. 60% were farmers; 42% had no formal education. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 125.40±20.37 mmHg and 117.62±9 in HHF and normal subjects respectively while diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were 80.88±19.04 mmHg in HHF subjects and 71.84±6.48 mmHg in normal subjects. Heart rate on ECG was 87.66±18.31 and 70.08±8.472 bpm in HHF and normal subjects respectively. QRS duration was 0.13±0.12 and 0.07±0.017 s in the HHF and normal subjects respectively. The corrected QTc was 0.47±0.04 and 0.38±0.024 s in HHF and normal subjects respectively. The Sokolow-Lyon index was 3.81±1.73 and 2.09±0.56 s in HHF and normal subjects respectively. The mean QRS duration was 0.14±0.018 in male and 0.12±0.022 s in female HHF subjects. Sokolow-Lyon index was 3.90±1.68 and 3.56±1.80 s in the male and female HHF subjects respectively. The mean QTc was 0.44±0.036 in male and 0.49±0.036 s in female HHF subjects respectively. ECG heart rate was 92.09±21.204 bpm in the middle-aged and 84.17±15.178 bpm in the elderly HHF subjects. The corrected QT interval was 0.44±0.041 s in the middle-aged group and 0.50±0.031 s in the elderly. The study shows that most of the values of electrocardiogram parameters were higher in the HHF subjects than in the normal population. Also, there were gender and age-specific differences in electrocardiogram parameters obtained in HHF subjects.\r\n\r\n\tKey words: Hypertension; heart disease; electrocardiogram