1
|
Hedman K, Moneghetti KJ, Hsu D, Christle JW, Patti A, Ashley E, Hadley D, Haddad F, Froelicher V. Limitations of Electrocardiography for Detecting Left Ventricular Hypertrophy or Concentric Remodeling in Athletes. Am J Med 2020; 133:123-132.e8. [PMID: 31738876 DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2019.06.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2019] [Revised: 06/12/2019] [Accepted: 06/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Electrocardiography (ECG) is used to screen for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), but common ECG-LVH criteria have been found less effective in athletes. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the value of ECG for identifying athletes with LVH or a concentric cardiac phenotype. METHODS A retrospective analysis of 196 male Division I college athletes routinely screened with ECG and echocardiography within the Stanford Athletic Cardiovascular Screening Program was performed. Left-ventricular mass and volume were determined using echocardiography. LVH was defined as left ventricular mass (LVM) >102 g/m²; a concentric cardiac phenotype as LVM-to-volume (M/V) ≥1.05 g/mL. Twelve-lead electrocardiograms including high-resolution time intervals and QRS voltages were obtained. Thirty-seven previously published ECG-LVH criteria were applied, of which the majority have never been evaluated in athletes. C-statistics, including area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) and likelihood ratios were calculated. RESULTS ECG lead voltages were poorly associated with LVM (r = 0.18-0.30) and M/V (r = 0.15-0.25). The proportion of athletes with ECG-LVH was 0%-74% across criteria, with sensitivity and specificity ranging between 0% and 91% and 27% and 99.5%, respectively. The average AUC of the criteria in identifying the 11 athletes with LVH was 0.57 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.56-0.59), and the average AUC for identifying the 8 athletes with a concentric phenotype was 0.59 (95% CI 0.56-0.62). CONCLUSION The diagnostic capacity of all ECG-LVH criteria were inadequate and, therefore, not clinically useful in screening for LVH or a concentric phenotype in athletes. This is probably due to the weak association between LVM and ECG voltage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kristofer Hedman
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Department of Clinical Physiology and Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
| | - Kegan J Moneghetti
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Stanford Sports Cardiology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif
| | - David Hsu
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Stanford Sports Cardiology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif
| | - Jeffrey W Christle
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Stanford Sports Cardiology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif
| | - Alessandro Patti
- Stanford Sports Cardiology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Sport and Exercise Medicine Division, Department of Medicine, University of Padova, Italy
| | - Euan Ashley
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Stanford Sports Cardiology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif
| | | | - Francois Haddad
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Stanford Sports Cardiology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif
| | - Victor Froelicher
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; Stanford Sports Cardiology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif
| |
Collapse
|