Gender differences, temporal profile and outcomes of patients presenting for stress electrocardiography in southern Nigeria
1 Cardiology Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Port Harcourt and University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
2 Research Unit, GoodHeart Medical Consultants, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2024, 22(01), 1005–1013
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjarr.2024.22.1.0941
Publication history:
Received on 05 March 2024; revised on 11 April 2024; accepted on 13 April 2024
Abstract:
Background: Exercise stress testing (EST) is a safe and cost-effective screening test for coronary artery disease (CAD) that does not require invasive procedures. Careful patient selection is essential for accurate results, but not recommended for women in their reproductive years due to a higher rate of false positives. This study aims to determine the gender difference and temporal profile of patients presenting for EST in southern Nigeria.
Method: This was a retrospective study of 102 subjects at GoodHeart Medical Consultant Hospital from October 2019 to January 2023 focused on adult patients with low or intermediate pretest symptoms referred for EST. Data on medication, smoking, alcohol, and presenting symptoms was collected.
Results: 102 subjects were studied (mean 49±16 years, 72.5% males). Most subjects (57.8%) were aged 41-60. The average duration of the EST was 9 minutes. Chest pain was the main reason for referral, and muscle fatigue was the most common reason for stopping the EST. The highest stage recorded was stage 3 (37.3%), and the lowest was stage 5 (3.9%). Over half of the subjects had a normal result, while 6.9% had ST changes and 3.9% had T wave inversion. Stress-induced ischemia was found in 7.8% and stress-induced arrhythmia in 3.9% of subjects, the study recorded a high prevalence among the males with no significant gender difference.
Conclusions: Stress ECG testing had no injuries or deaths, with over half having normal results. Ischemia and arrhythmia were rare, and muscle fatigue was the main reason for stopping.
Keywords:
Stress Electrocardiography; Gender difference; Referral; GoodHeart Medical Consultant Hospital
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Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0