THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FRAGMENTED QRS ON ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY AND BLOOD PRESSURE PATTERN IN PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Fragmented QRS (fQRS) complexes onelectrocardiography (ECG) signify areal scar and fibrosis inthe myocardium. Our aim was to investigate associationbetween fragmented QRS and blood pressure pattern inhypertensive patients.MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients underwent ambulatory blood pressure were studied retrospectively.Patients whose systolic blood pressure was 10-20%lower during the night when compared to the day weregrouped as “dipping group”, while those who had adecrease less than 10% during the night were groupedas “non-dipping group”. The fQRS was defined as thepresence of a second R wave, notching of R or S waveor fragmentation in two contiguous leads on ECG corresponding to epicardial major coronary artery region.RESULTS: The dipping group had 98 patients, while thenon-dipping group had 89 patients. The groups weresimilar in terms of age, sex, body mass index, lipid profileand antihypertensive drugs. The fQRS was observed in 14patients in the dipper group and 27 patients in the nondipping group (p=0.008). The fQRS on ECG was foundto be an independent predictor of non-dipping bloodpressure pattern (p=0.046, odds ratio=2.27).CONCLUSIONS: The presence of fQRS was more than inhypertensives with non-dipping pattern compared withdipping pattern and this variable was a predictor of nondipping pattern.