Open AccessPrevalence of Interatrial Block in a General Population of Elderly People
Author(s) -
Ninios Ilias,
Pliakos Christodoulos,
Ninios Vlasios,
Karvounis Haralampos,
Louridas George
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
annals of noninvasive electrocardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.494
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1542-474X
pISSN - 1082-720X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1542-474x.2007.00178.x
Subject(s) - medicine , atrial flutter , atrial fibrillation , population , sinus rhythm , cardiology , abnormality , pediatrics , environmental health , psychiatry
Background: Interatrial block (IAB: P wave ≥ 110 ms) is highly prevalent in people ≥65 years old living in a community. Methods: We investigated 720 consecutive people age ≥65 years old, from the general population, with the intention of evaluating the prevalence of IAB in their electrocardiogram. After excluding 42 people with atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter (5%) or having a permanent pacemaker (0,83%), we evaluated the electrocardiograms of the remaining 678 people with sinus rhythm. Results: We identified 400 (59%) persons with IAB with a similar distribution between men (58.5%) and women (59.4%). IAB was also identified in 347 from a total of 570 hypertensive people (60,9%) and only in 53 out of 108 (49.1%) nonhypertensive people (P = 0.015). Conclusions: The surprisingly large prevalence of the IAB in the general older population emphasizes the importance of the early recognition of this abnormality from the surface 12‐lead electrocardiogram.