Questionable validity of left ventricular hypertrophy cutoff values in morbidly and super-morbidly obese patients.

BACKGROUND

Current diagnostic ECG criteria of left ventricular hypertrophy in obese patients are still lacking.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the current ECG diagnostic criteria of LVH, and to validate our previously proposed criteria in a group of patients with morbid obesity.

METHODS

A group of consecutive 429 obese patients (MOP) with BMI of at least 35 kg/m2 (mean age 38.6 ± 8.9 years, BMI 48.7 ± 9.0 kg/m2 ; 323 females, 106 males) were included.

RESULTS

The diagnosis of LVH in MOPs was confirmed only by RaVL of 7.5 mm, Cornell index of 12.5 mm; Cornell index × QRS duration of 1,125 mm × ms and Romhilt-Estes score of 1. None of the criteria proposed to date is appropriate in super-morbidly obese patients.

CONCLUSION

Our study confirmed that none of the currently used voltage-based ECG criteria is appropriate for diagnosing LVH in morbidly obese patients. Further studies are required.