Echocardiographic and electrocardiographic findings in juvenile hypertension.

A group of 36 juvenile hypertensive patients underwent echocardiographic and electrocardiographic examinations. In 15 of them echocardiography detected increased left ventricular posterior wall and/or septal thickness in the diastole. Asymmetric septal hypertrophy with a septum posterior wall ratio greater than 1.3 was established in 7 cases (19%). The ECG abnormalities included signs of left atrial abnormality and voltage criteria after Sokolow-Lyon and McPhie. The sensitivity of electrocardiography in detecting left ventricular hypertrophy determined by echocardiography was 15% after Sokolow-Lyon, 15% after McPhie ad 31% using all the criteria combined. The specificity of ECG was 100, 87 and 87%, respectively. The ECG is less sensitive in left ventricular hypertrophy in younger individuals than in the adult population. This seems to be due to a lower degree of hypertrophy in the early stages of essential hypertension. No significant correlation of echocardiographically determined left ventricular mass with precordial ECG voltage was found.