Cost-Effectiveness of Echocardiography and Electrocardiography for Detection of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in Patients with Systemic Hypertension

SUMMARY Although echocardiography is more accurate than electrocardiography for detection of left ventric-ular hypertrophy, it is also more expensive, making it uncertain whether echocardiography is cost-effective for detection of this abnormality in hypertensive patients. Accordingly, the sensitivity of M-mode echocardiographic and electrocardiographic criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy was determined in necropsied patients with anatomic hypertrophy of mild (n = 26), moderate (n = 21) or severe (n = 46) degree, and the prevalence of each degree of hypertrophy was determined in 561 hypertensive adults drawn from clinical and employed population samples. The sensitivity of echocardiographic left ventricular mass index criteria was 57 % in necropsied patients with mild hypertrophy and 98 % in patients with moderate or severe hypertrophy. All electrocardiographi