Electrocardiographic changes in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients at Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe

Background: Hypertension is an important public health problem globally with an increasing prevalence, severity and attendant complications on the heart and other internal organs. It was described as a silent killer due to its insidious onset and no obvious symptoms. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a basic tool that can help determine some of the changes induced on the heart by systemic hypertension especially when it’s not diagnosed early. Objectives: To determine the pattern of ECG change in newly diagnosed hypertensives (HTN) at Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe. Methods: The ECG results of 1015 newly diagnosed HTN patients referred for electrocardiographic study between Jan 2012 and Dec 2016 were retrieved and reviewed. All the patients had their basic anthropometric parameters, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) recorded. Descriptive statistics was used in analyzing the different ECG findings. Results: The mean age of patients was 49.3±14.8 years. The mean BMI was 28.9±6.5 kg/m. The mean systolic and diastolic BP were 154.7±22.0 mmHg and 93.7±12.5 mmHg respectively. The mean ECG’s Heart Rate (HR), PR interval and QTc interval were; 85.9±16.8ms, 154.1± 23.9ms, and 433.5±32.5ms respectively. The commonest ECG abnormality was left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) seen in 315(31.0%) of the patients. Some other abnormal ECG findings include; LAD (19.9%), LAE (18.7%), ST-T wave changes (14.1%), SB (1.8%), BBB (1.5%), AF (0.5%). Only 284(29%) of the patients had normal ECG. Conclusion: Most of the newly diagnosed hypertensives have already developed one or more cardiac related complications at the time of diagnosis. This further emphasizes the need for public enlightenment on regular BP check for early diagnosis and management of HTN.