Arterial hypertension is a major cause of coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart failure. Several studies have shown that left ventricular hypertrophy is an important risk factor in patients with hypertension, leading to a fivefold to 10-fold increase in cardiovascular risk,1 2 3 4 5 which is similar to the increase seen in patients with a history of myocardial infarction.6 The presence of left ventricular hypertrophy, in addition to hypertension, thus has important implications for assessing risk and managing patients, including decisions on interventions other than antihypertensive treatment, such as lipid lowering treatment and lifestyle modifications.7 8 Accurate and early diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy is therefore an important component of the care of patients with hypertension.
Decisions about treatment should be based on assessments of hypertensive target organ damage and overall cardiovascular risk. The appropriate diagnostic work-up of suspected left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with hypertension is less clear, however. There is many electrocardiographic indexes for the diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy, based on the standard 12 lead electrocardiogram, have been described. Many of the proposed indexes have remained anecdotal, but others are commonly used, including the Sokolow-Lyon index,9 the Cornell voltage index,10 the Cornell product index,11 the Gubner index,12 and the Romhilt-Estes scores.13 However, debate about their comparative diagnostic value continues.14 15 We did a systematic review to clarify the accuracy of different electrocardiographic indexes, with emphasis on their ability to rule out left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with arterial hypertension.
