The correlation between T-wave abnormalities and adverse cardiovascular events and echocardiographic changes in hypertensive patients

ABSTRACT

Background: Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) are common in patients with hypertension and are associated with higher mortality.

Methods: This study aimed to observe the incidence of MACE in hypertensive patients and the correlation between the electrocardiogram (ECG) T-wave abnormalities and echocardiographic changes. This retrospective cohort study analyzed the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events and changes in echocardiographic features in 430 hypertensive patients admitted to Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University from January 2016 to January 2022. Patients were grouped according to a diagnosis of electrocardiographic T-wave abnormalities.

Results: Compared with the normal T-wave group, the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events was significantly higher in hypertensive patients with abnormal T-wave (141 [54.9%] vs 120 [69.4%], x^2 = 9.113, P = .003). However, Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that no survival advantage was observed in the normal T-wave group at all in the hypertensive patients (P = .83). Echocardiographic values associated with cardiac structural markers, including ascending aorta diameter (AAO), left atrial diameter (LA), and interventricular septal thickness (IVS), were significantly higher in the group with abnormal T-wave than those in the group with normal T-wave at baseline and follow-up (P <.05 for all). In addition, in an exploratory Cox regression analysis model stratified by clinical characteristics of hypertensive patients, the forest plot indicated that the variables, including the age (>65 years), hypertension history (>5 years), premature atrial beats, and severe valvular regurgitation were significantly associated with adverse cardiovascular events (P <.05).

Conclusion: Hypertensive patients with abnormal T-wave show a higher incidence of adverse cardiovascular events. The values of cardiac structural markers were significantly higher in the group with abnormal T-wave.

KEYWORDS:

• Hypertension
• T-wave abnormalities
• echocardiogram
• adverse cardiovascular event

Acknowledgments

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the support of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University for investigators participating in this work.

Disclosure statement

The funding body was not involved in the design of the study as well as in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.

Data availability statement

Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request for reproducing the results.

Author contributions

All authors contributed significantly to the work reported, gave consent to the journal in which the article was submitted, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Translational Medicine and Interdisciplinary Research Joint Fund of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University (grant number ZNJC202201).