Independent contribution of electrocardiographic abnormalities to risk of death from coronary heart disease, cardiovascular diseases and all causes. Findings of three Chicago epidemiologic studies.

Abstract

The importance of major and minor ECG abnormalities at baseline for subsequent risk of death from coronary heart disease, cardiovascular diseases and all causes was analyzed for middle-aged white men from the Chicago Peoples Gas Company, Chicago Western Electric Company and Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry studies. Univariate analysis showed that in all 3 studies, men with major ECG abnormalities had death rates considerably higher than those with normal ECG. When baseline age, diastolic pressure, serum cholesterol, relative weight and number of cigarettes per day were taken into consideration in multivariate analysis, ECG abnormalities retained significant relationship to the 3 death end points. Findings from the Chicago Western Electric Company and Chicago Heart Association studies showed independent relationship between minor ECG abnormalities and the 3 death end points. In the Chicago Peoples Gas Company (20 yr follow-up) and in the Chicago Western Electric Company (17 yr follow-up), when the deaths were divided into those that occurred within the first 10 yr of follow-up and those that occurred more than 10 yr after entry, the association between ECG abnormalities and mortality held for both the 1st and 2nd decades of follow-up. An independent relationship between ECG abnormalities and death from coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease and all causes is demonstrated.