Prevalence of early repolarization pattern in patients with lone atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to test the association of early repolarization pattern (ER) with lone atrial fibrillation (AF).

METHODS: Electrocardiograms (ECGs) were analyzed in blinded fashion in a case-control study of 182 patients with lone AF and 182 controls without AF.

RESULTS: Patients with lone AF and controls had similar frequencies of ER pattern (15% vs. 19%, p=0.40). In patients <50years of age, there was also no difference in the percentage of patients with ER in the AF and control groups (17% vs. 19%, p=0.60). ER pattern was more common in patients with ECG voltage criteria of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), with ER present in 57% of patients with elevated Sokolow-Lyon voltage compared to 14% of those without (p<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS: No association could be identified between the ER pattern and lone AF in young and middle-aged patients. In this age group, ER is substantially more common in patients with elevated Sokolow-Lyon voltage criteria.