ArticleCardiovascular journal of Africa
Prevalence and predictive value of electrocardiographic abnormalities in pulmonary hypertension: evidence from the Pan-African Pulmonary Hypertension Cohort (PAPUCO) study.
Article in Cardiovascular journal of Africa. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Machine-Reported Electrocardiographic Right Axis Deviation or Right Ventricular Hypertrophy and Echocardiographic Pulmonary Hypertension Phenotypes and Right-Heart Abnormalities.Echocardiography (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) · 2026Observational
- Geographic Variations, Peculiarities, and Management of Heart Failure in Sub-Saharan Africa.Current heart failure reports · 2025Review
- Determining the QRS axis: visual estimation is equal to calculation.Herzschrittmachertherapie & Elektrophysiologie · 2025Article
- Image Findings from Dual-phase Computed Tomography Pulmonary Angiography for Diagnosing Tuberculosis-associated Fibrosing Mediastinitis.Current medical imaging · 2025Article
- The Diagnostic Accuracy of an Electrocardiogram in Pulmonary Hypertension and the Role of "R V1, V2 + S I, aVL - S V1".Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Scoping review of post-TB pulmonary vascular disease: Proceedings from the 2nd International Post-Tuberculosis Symposium.Pulmonary circulation · 2024Article
- Diagnostic Evaluation of Pulmonary Hypertension: A Comprehensive Approach for Primary Care Physicians.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Long-Term Follow-up of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Associated Pulmonary Hypertension: Clinical Features and Survival Outcomes of the Pan Africa Pulmonary Hypertension Cohort (PAPUCO).Open forum infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Pulmonary Hypertension Caused by Fibrosing Mediastinitis.JACC. Asia · 2022Review
- Moving Ahead: Building a Strong Network Among Female Cardiovascular Clinician Scientists and Researchers in Africa.JACC. Case reports · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPulmonary hypertension (PH) is prevalent in Africa and is still often diagnosed only at an advanced stage, therefore it is associated with poor quality of life and survival rates. In resource-limited settings, we assessed the diagnostic utility of standard 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECG) to detect abnormalities indicating PH.
methodsSixty-five patients diagnosed with PH were compared with 285 heart disease-free subjects. The prevalence and diagnostic performance of ECG features indicative of PH and right heart strain were calculated.
resultsCompared to the control group, all abnormalities were more frequent in the PH cohort where no patient had a completely normal ECG. The most prevalent (cases vs control) ECG abnormalities were: pathological Q wave in at least two contiguous peripheral leads (47.7 vs 6.7%), left ventricular hypertrophy (38.5 vs 9.8%) and p-pulmonale (36.9 vs 20.7%) (all p < 0.05). The sensitivity of ECG criteria for right heart strain ranged between 6.2 and 47.7%, while specificity ranged between 79.3 and 100%. Negative predictive value ranged between 81.5 and 88.9% and positive predictive value between 25 and 100%. Positive predictive value was lowest (25%) for right bundle branch block and QRS rightaxis deviation (≥ 100°), and highest (100%) for QRS axis ≥ +100° combined with R/S ratio in V1 ≥ 1 or R in V1 > 7 mm.
conclusionWhen present, signs of PH on ECG strongly indicated disease, but a normal ECG cannot rule out disease. ECG patterns focusing on the R and S amplitude in V1 and right-axis deviation had good specificity and negative predictive values for PH, and warrant further investigation with echocardiography.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.