The occurrence of left ventricular hypertrophy in normotensive individuals in a community setting in North-East Trinidad

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine primarily the occurrence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in normotensive Trinidadians. DESIGN AND METHODS: Enrolment into the study required participants to have normal blood pressure (≤140/90) using the JNC 7 (The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure) classification, free of type 2 diabetes, as well as no existing LVH. Upon entry into the study, participants were first screened for LVH using a standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG), using the Sokolow–Lyon index and the Cornell index. ECHO was used to confirm or refute the diagnosis of LVH. RESULTS: A total of 209 patients met the criteria for entry into the study. Of these, 63.6% had LVH using Cornell criteria and 68.2% using LVH by Sokolow–Lyon criteria. Subsequently, ECHO confirmed the diagnosis in 2.9% using American Society of Echocardiography criteria and 1.5% using World Health Organization criteria. Thus the estimated prevalence of LVH in normotensive individuals was approximately 3%. CONCLUSION: The estimated prevalence of LVH in normotensive individuals appears to be relatively high if an ECG is the single investigation performed, which is common in our setting and may also be common in the developing world. However, using ECHO, the prevalence of LVH approaches a value similarly reported in the literature. Therefore, these findings raise two important issues: 1) the use of criteria such as the Cornell and Sokolow–Lyon voltage criteria established in the developed world from populations of vastly different ethnic backgrounds may not be widely applicable, and 2) all individuals suspected of having LVH should have an ECHO.