BackgroundLeft ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is an important risk factor for
cardiovascular events, and its detection usually begins with an
electrocardiogram (ECG).ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of complete left bundle branch block (CLBBB) in
hypertensive patients in the diagnostic performance of LVH by ECG.MethodsA total of 2,240 hypertensive patients were studied. All of them were
submitted to an ECG and an echocardiogram (ECHO). We evaluated the most
frequently used electrocardiographic criteria for LVH diagnosis: Cornell
voltage, Cornell voltage product, Sokolow-Lyon voltage, Sokolow-Lyon
product, RaVL, RaVL+SV3, RV6/RV5 ratio,
strain pattern, left atrial enlargement, and QT interval. LVH identification
pattern was the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) obtained by ECHO in all
participants.ResultsMean age was 11.3 years ± 58.7 years, 684 (30.5%) were male and 1,556
(69.5%) were female. In patients without CLBBB, ECG sensitivity to the
presence of LVH varied between 7.6 and 40.9%, and specificity varied between
70.2% and 99.2%. In participants with CLBBB, sensitivity to LVH varied
between 11.9 and 95.2%, and specificity between 6.6 and 96.6%. Among the
criteria with the best performance for LVH with CLBBB, Sokolow-Lyon, for a
voltage of ≥ 3,0mV, stood out with a sensitivity of 22.2% (CI 95%
15.8 - 30.8) and specificity of 88.3% (CI 95% 77.8 - 94.2).ConclusionIn hypertensive patients with CLBBB, the most often used criteria for the
detection of LVH with ECG showed significant decrease in performance with
regards to sensitivity and specificity. In this scenario, Sokolow-Lyon
criteria with voltage ≥3,0mV presented the best performance.