Does the presence of Q-waves on EKG predict death in patients with acute cerebral infarction?
The presence of Q-waves in more than two leads on a standard EKG is an independent predictor of 1-year mortality following acute cerebral infarction.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether abnormal EKG findings could be predictive factors for death after a stroke event. METHODS: Patients with acute cerebral infarction who were 35 to 98 years old during April 1996 through November 2000 were analyzed (n = 216). A standard 12-lead EKG was recorded for each patient after acute cerebral infarction. The authors prospectively investigated the association between abnormal EKG findings and the risk for death after stroke over a 1-year period. RESULTS: Using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, the authors found age (hazard ratio of mortality per year 1.10, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.15, p < 0.001), sex (female; hazard ratio of mortality 3.42, 95% CI 1.43 to 8.19, p = 0.006), and the presence of Q-waves in more than two leads (hazard ratio of mortality 2.75, 95% CI 1.23 to 6.14, p = 0.013) were independently associated with death after stroke. CONCLUSION: The presence of Q-waves in more than two leads could be a predictive factor for death after acute cerebral infarction.
Tanaka et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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