The Electrocardiogram in Some Indian Population Groups

Of 941 subjects studied, there were 16 cases of myocardial infarction of which one was a silent infarct. Of these, nine were in the low-income group and seven in the high-income group. All the cases were among the civilian population. About 11 of the subjects had high voltage in the chest leads without any evidence of hypertension or other heart disease. These were equally distributed at all ages in the different income groups, civil and military. There was no significant difference in the incidence of ST-segment depression in the various groups. On the other hand, T-wave changes in standard leads, I, II and left chest leads was higher in the high-income groups at all ages than in the low-income groups and the increase was significant after the age of 50 years. ST and T-wave changes following exercise were slightly higher in the high-income groups than in the low-income groups among the civilian subjects. The incidence of Grusin's abnormality was higher in the low-income group, both civil and military, than in the high-income groups. The incidence of ischemic heart disease (and of electrocardiographic abnormalities generally) was very low in this study as compared to studies elsewhere.