Electrocardiographic Patterns Amongst End Stage Renal Disease Patients in a Teaching Hospital in South-South Nigeria

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health challenge affecting the world in general. Its devastating impact is more evident in developing countries such as Nigeria. The incidence of cardiovascular disease rises with reducing renal function and majority of patients with chronic kidney disease succumb to cardiovascular events before reaching end stage renal disease. The aim of the study is to correlate electrocardiographic abnormalities with renal function indices like PCV, eGFR amongst others. We analyzed electrocardiographic patterns retrospectively over a period of 4 years amongst adult patients with end stage renal disease. We studied 150 patients, 63.3% males and 36.7% females with a mean age of 50 ± 17years. The mean packed cell volume, estimated glomerular filtration rate and QTc was 23 ± 5.4 %, 9.7 ± 5.8 ml/min and 444.9ms ± 20.2 respectively. Left ventricular hypertrophy was the predominant abnormality accounting for 82.7% and 81.3% using Sokolo-Lyon and Araoye criteria respectively. There was no significant correlation between eGFR and QTc (p – 0.1836 CI; -0.2-0.05). Left atrial abnormality and ischemic changes (strain pattern) was noted in 33.3% and 21.3% respectively. Left ventricular hypertrophy is a common electrocardiographic abnormality amongst chronic kidney disease patients so efforts to identify these patients and prevent their progression to end stage disease is crucial.