EKG May Predict Postmenopausal Women's Risk for Heart Disease

A new study has found that even small abnormalities in electrocardiogram (EKG) test results may indicate whether an apparently healthy postmenopausal woman is at risk for heart disease. The study's results appear in the March 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"In terms of predicting heart disease outcomes, EKG is giving additional information that isn't available" from well-known heart disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high blood sugar, said Dr. Pablo Denes, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Denes was the lead author of the study.

Researchers examined data from the Women's Health Initiative, a large-scale study which focused on postmenopausal women. Part of the Women's Health Initiative involved subjects on hormone replacement therapy. The WHI enrolled subjects in 1993 through 1998 and was halted in 2002, following reports that hormone replacement therapy put women at greater risk for heart attack, stroke, and breast cancer.

The current study focused on approximately 15,000 women, ages 50 to 79. Subjects had EKGs at the beginning of the study; the test was repeated three and six years later. The majority - 9,744 - had normal EKG readings when the study began. 4,095 had minor abnormalities and 910 had major abnormalities in their EKGs.

Researchers found that the risk of a coronary heart disease event, including heart attack and death, was 55 percent higher than average for those with minor abnormalities. Those with major abnormalities had three times the average risk for a heart disease event. Hormone replacement therapy was not a factor in the EKGs' effectiveness at predicting heart disease.