Electrocardiographic Ventricular Repolarization Parameters in Chronic Chagas' Disease as Predictors of Asymptomatic Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (original) (raw)

Electrocardiographic repolarization parameters are potential markers of arrhythmogenic risk and have not been evaluated in Chagas' disease. The aim of this report was to investigate their associations with LV systolic function assessed by two‐dimensional echocardiography. In a cross‐sectional study involving 738 adult outpatients in the chronic phase of Chagas' disease, maximal QTc and T wave peak‐to‐end (TpTe) intervals, and QT, QTapex (QTa), JT and TpTe interval dispersions, and variation coefficients were measured and calculated from 12‐lead standard ECGs. Clinical, radiological, ECG, and echocardiographic data were recorded. In bivariate statistical analysis, all repolarization parameters were significantly increased in patients with moderate or severe LV systolic dysfunction, and these patients showed more clinical, radiologic, and ECG abnormalities. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that isolatedly QTd had the best predictive performance for...