Prevalence of different causes of low voltage electrocardiogram

Background: low qrsv-ecg voltage in healthy subjects may be a normal variant. otherwise it may be a reading indicative of the conditions where the electrical signal from the heart is weakened. the causes of low voltage complexes on the electrocardiogram are variable comprising of cardiac and extra cardiac causes. aim: to study the prevalence of low voltage ecg amongst various clinical entities. methods: this crosssectional indoor based study was conducted at the department of medicine & cardiology,shaikh zayed hospital,lahore from 1st january 2001 to 30th june 2001. one hundred patients presenting in various departments with clinical features suggestive of any of the diseases,known to be the possible cause of low voltage ecg were included. after detailed history and clinical examination and besides cbc,esr,chest xray,ecgs of all the patients were evaluated for low voltage. cardiac enzymes,fasting lipids,mantoux test,usg abdomen/pelvis,body mass index,sputum examination and bronchoscopy were specified according to the clinical scenario. results: it was seen that though low qrsv on ecg is caused by different cardiac and extra cardiac clinical entities like pericardial effusion,myocardial infarction,hypothyroidism,obesity,anasarca etc. but the statistically significant results were obtained in pericardial effusion (68%),hypothyroidism (40%) and myocardial infarction (29%). while comparing all these 3 significant causes of low voltage ecg with one another via post hoc analysis,pericardial effusion had a significant p value (<0.05). conclusion: it was concluded that amongst all the causes of lqrsv-ecg,pericardial effusion is the most statistically significant clinical entity producing low voltage qrs complex on ecg.