Elderly people risk of heart attack determined through EKG

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco are using the information electrocardiograms (EKG) of healthy elderly people, and adding it to other traditional risk factor measurements, to better predict who will have a heart attack. Of 2,192 healthy adults aged 70 and older, 13 percent had minor and 23 percent had major EKG abnormalities. Among them, 16 percent had coronary heart disease events. The study showed that more heart attacks are experienced by adults with EKG abnormalities. Both minor and major EKG abnormalities were found to increase the risk of heart disease after adjusting for traditional risk factors such as smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. In addition, the researchers found no correlation between other risk factors and gender or race, showing that this could be a future tool to predict heart problems.