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Background and objective: Only few studies addressed ECG findings in healthy members of the Indian armed forces or the general population of India. The study was conducted to assess the prevalence of abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) detected during a routine medical examination of healthy members of the Indian armed forces. Method: The ECG of all the healthy members performed during a routine medical examination was initially reported by physicians at various armed forces service hospitals in the Eastern Command (EC) and later perused by the cardiologist at Command Hospital Eastern Command (CHEC). Individuals with abnormal ECG underwent relevant cardiac evaluation at CHEC to determine the underlying pathology. Results: A total of 1,045 members of the Indian armed forces were included in the study and were categorised as follows: 244 in Group-1 (aged < 25years), 478 in Group-2 (aged between 25 to 40 years) and 323 in Group-3 (aged > 40years). Abnormal ECG was found in 108 (10.3%) individuals. Left axis deviation was the most common abnormality detected in 18 (1.2%) individuals, followed by incomplete RBBB and T wave inversion which were each found in 15 subjects (1.43% of all individuals and 13.9% of the subjects with abnormal ECG). The prevalence of ECG abnormalities detected in our study was similar to that reported in previous studies. Only five (0.47%) of the 108 individuals with abnormal ECG were found to have underlying cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: Morphological ECG abnormalities were common in the subjects but did not vary significantly from the general population, and only a minority had underlying pathology. While most of the abnormalities may only represent normal variations and their occurrence in healthy individuals during routine health check-ups should not be alarming. Evaluation of structural heart disease should be done for ECG abnormalities with prognostic significance that has been well-characterised.
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Objective To study the relationship between changes of electrocardiogram (ECG) and the prognosis of patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Methods The relationship between ECG changes and location data of intracerebral hemorrhage in 183 patients was analyzed. The prognosis of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage in acute stage and the abnormal ECG were analyzed by Logistic regression analysis. Results In 183 patients, there were 44 cases of brainstem hemorrhage, 21 cases of thalamic hemorrhage, 42 cases of basal ganglia hemorrhage and 76 cases of cerebellar hemorrhage. In these patients, there were abnormal ECG findings in 35 cases (79.5%), 16 cases (76.2%), 21 cases (50.0%) and 31 cases (40.8%). There were significant differences in the proportions of patients with ECG abnormalities in different bleeding sites (χ2=21.638,P<0.05). Abnormal ECG was more common when intracerebral hemorrhage was located at the midline structures. According to the hematoma volumes, there were 20 cases with hematoma volumes ≤ 10 mL (35.0%), 25 cases with hematoma volumes between 10 mL-30 mL (72.0%) and 18 cases with hematoma volumes≥30 mL (88.9%). There were 7 cases with abnormal ECG, 18 cases with abnormal ECG and 16 cases with abnormal ECG in these three groups of patients. There were significant differences in the proportions of patients with ECG abnormalities between three groups (χ2=12.979,P<0.05). There were more patients with abnormal ECG in hematoma volumes between 10 mL-30 mL group and hematoma volumes ≥30 mL group than those of patients with hematoma volumes ≤10 mL group (χ2=6.161 and 11.515, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in patients with ECG abnormalities between hematoma volumes of 10 mL-30 mL group and hematoma volumes≥30 mL group (χ2=1.804,P>0.05). There were 51 cases with abnormal ECG in 69 cases of death group (73.9%). There were 52 cases with abnormal ECG in 114 cases of survival group (45.6%). There was significant difference between the two groups (χ2=13.990,P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the ST-T change, U-wave abnormality and long QT interval were risk factors for death in the acute phase of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Conclusion While actively treating primary brain diseases, we should closely monitor changes of ECG and deal with them in time so as to prevent the death of patients with acute phase of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.