Information now available about the prevalence and incidence of coronary heart disease is seriously deficient because of the lack of standardized and objective methods of collection, tabulation, interpretation, and reporting of survey data. Chief reliance in the objective diagnosis of coronary heart disease rests on the electrocardiogram, a crucial tool in population studies. A classification system for the electrocardiogram in epidemiologic studies has been developed, tested, and herein presented. It is adapted to the usual clinical reading technics of the electrocardiographer. It embodies criteria widely employed and of diagnostic and prognostic import, but no stipulations about interpretation are made. The system permits more valid comparisons of data on heart disease between populations. It is susceptible to modern methods of data processing.

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