Detection of atrial electrical instability in hypertensive patients

The aim of our study was to evaluate the influence of the left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) on the atrial electrical instability in hypertensive patients (pts). 76 hypertensive pts without symptomatic coronary disease, systolic dysfunction, electrolyte disturbances or antiarrhythmic therapy were included in our study, and were divided into two groups: with LVH (group I) 55 pts and without LVH (group II) - 21 pts. Additional measurements were made: ECHO, the 12-lead ECG. From SAECG, the following were calculated: the filtered P-wave duration (hfP); the root mean square voltages for last 30 msec (RMS/sub 30/); RMS voltages for the last time quarter of P-wave divided by RMS voltages of full time of P-wave (RMS4/RMS); envelope of the first 10 ms of P-wave vector magnitude (Penv10). Signal averaged P-wave ECG may be a useful tool to evaluation of atrial electrical instability in hypertensive pts with LVH.