Peculiarities of the African's Electrocardiogram and the Changes Observed in Serial Studies

Among African medical patients with and without heart disease about 63 per cent are found to have electrocardiograms which are abnormal by accepted standards. Twenty-two per cent of a group of healthy African nurses show the same peculiarities. Over a period of months or years the electrocardiograms show spontaneous changes. Clinical and postmortem evidence indicates that the electrocardiographic changes are not related to organic heart disease. It is suggested that these electrocardiograms may be of a juvenile type or alternatively that they may be attributable to some obscure metabolic factor of nutritional origin.