Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JACC, JAMA / 26.08.2014
EKG Changes Identify Older Adults At Risk of Heart Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Peter Godsk Jørgensen
Copenhagen City Heart Study
Frederiksberg Hospital, Frederiksberg, Denmark
Medical Research: What are the main findings of your study?
Dr. Jørgensen: In the coming decades, a larger and larger proportion of the population will be aged 65 years or above. At present, no risk prediction models have been developed specifically for estimation of risk in this population. ECG changes are easily recognized and identify subclinical signs of end-organ disease. Our data reveal that not only are ECG changes a very frequent finding that independently predicts cardiovascular disease, they significantly improve risk prediction when added to the most used European and US risk models. Thus, our data demonstrate that adding ECG changes will correctly reclassify more than one third of the persons aged 65 years and above without cardiovascular disease.
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