TMSS Medical College Journal

Background: The electrocardiography (ECG) is an important tool to find out cardiac disorders. ECG changes among the hypertensive patients can reveal the early cardiac abnormalities, which can lessen the incidence of morbidity and mortality. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to find out the association between ECG changes and the duration of hypertension and level of Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) in hypertensive patients. Materials & Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted among the hypertensive patients attended in the Department of Cardiology at TMSS Medical College and Rafatullah Community Hospital, Bogura during the period of January 2017 to January 2018. Data were collected by face-to-face interview with a pre-designed structured questionnaire. Measurement of the blood pressure and the 12-lead surface electrocardiogram were done among the study group in a resting state. Results: There were significant association between hypertension and ECG changes which is more pronounced with the duration of hypertension and level of systolic blood pressure. And also there was significant association between the Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and duration of hypertension.

Hypertension is defined as the persistent rise of arterial blood pressure (systolic or diastolic) above the upper normal limit and clinically it is characterized by an elevation of blood pressure to 140/90 mm of Hg or more. However the modern perception of hypertension has been slightly changed. According to the recent perception hypertension is “the level of blood pressure at which the benefits of treatment outweigh its cost and hazards'. One of primary and well recognized tool to screen and monitor cardiovascular diseases is electrocardiogram (ECG). Which is the graphical display of the various electrical changes of the heart. It plays an important role in the diagnosis of and monitoring various cardiac diseases. It is one of the major methods of assessing the effects of hypertension on one of its target organ heart and as well as effectiveness of the treatment of it. It remains one of the most sensitive methods for establishing left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) due to hypertension’. An ECG does not determine whether one has hypertension or not but it can reveal the effects of long standing hypertension. Electrocardiographic evidences of LVH are highly predictive of cardiovascular complications in patient with hypertension and therefore particularly useful in risk assessment . LVH has been reported to be the first and commonest complications of hypertensive patients and frequently present after the age of forty. Several studies have shown that LVH is an important risk factor in patients with hypertension, leading to a 5-10 fold increase in cardiovascular risk. So detection of LVH has become an important part of the cardiovascular risk assessment in hypertensive patients. The 12-lead surface electrocardiogram has long been used as the major means for this purpose’. The aim of the present study is to find out the association between electrocardiographic changes in hypertensive patients through ECG analysis by the 12-Lead surface electrocardiogram.