Low voltage electrocardiogram after acute myocardial infarction.

In a retrospective study of patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to a coronary monitoring unit in 1971 12 per cent (39 patients) had low voltage electrocardiograms within 72 hours of admission. Of these, 7 patients (18%) died while in hospital and a further 9 (23%) died within one year of their infarction. Of the 23 patients who survived, 16 were severely incapacitated by their symptoms at the one-year follow-up. A low voltage electrocardiogram in association with acute myocardial infarction appears to imply a poor prognosis in terms of both mortality and morbidity, independently of other prognostic indices.