[Early ventricular repolarization syndrome and heart function in the inhabitants of Asia, Africa and Latin America].

Electrocardiographic screening of 1306 normal 17- to 30-years-old student coming to study in the USSR from Asia, Africa and Latin America detected 59 cases of the early ventricular repolarization syndrome (EVRS). The diagnosis of EVRS was significantly more frequent in the Africans (9.1%), as compared to the Asiatics (2.6%) and Latin Americans (2.2%). The EVRS observed in African students was often combined with negative and effaced T wave. Cardiac function was assessed by one-dimensional echocardiography in 22 individuals. Normal hemodynamics and left-ventricular operation as well as data of 4-6 years' follow-up indicate that EVRS-specific myocardial repolarization pattern has no effect on cardiac contractility.