The Use of Romhilt-Estes Criteria in the Presumptive Electrocardiographic Diagnosis of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in Comparison to Voltage-Based Criteria

Background The ECG diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) has been challenging for over a hundred years. ECG diagnosis of LVH has shown good specificity but lacks sensitivity. In addition, voltage-based criteria can be affected by multiple conditions such as obesity and chronic lung disease. Therefore, we sought to compare Romhilt-Estes (R-E) criteria with commonly used voltage-based criteria in presumptive ECG diagnosis of LVH. Methods This is a retrospective electronic medical record study from September 1, 2017, to September 1, 2018, of 499 consecutive ECGs from Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Different ECG criteria were used to identify the presence of LVH, including the Cornell criteria, modified Cornell criteria, Sokolow-Lyon criteria, and Romhilt-Estes criteria. The main study outcome was to compare the R-E criteria in presumptive ECG diagnosis of LVH to the voltage-based criteria (Cornell, modified Cornell, and Sokolow-Lyon). Results After analyzing the ECGs using the different ECG criteria, R-E criteria were positive with LVH present (score ≥ 5 points) in 162 patients. In contrast, Cornell criteria were positive in 42 patients (8.4%), modified Cornell criteria in 50 patients (10%), and Sokolow-Lyon criteria in 13 patients (2.6%). In addition, R-E criteria showed higher positivity of LVH diagnosis compared to the sum of three voltage-based criteria (32.7% versus 21% respectively, p<0.001). Conclusion We presume that R-E criteria can help better diagnose LVH by ECG compared to other commonly-used voltage-based criteria. However, further studies are needed using confirmatory imaging to confirm the accuracy of R-E criteria and compare it with other voltage based-criteria.