ECGs May Miss Heart Disease in Postmenopausal Women

Postmenopausal women may not be able to rule out coronary heart disease (CHD) based on a normal electrocardiogram (ECG), according to research published in the Dec. 1 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology. Nanette K. Wenger, M.D., of the Emory University School of Medicine and ACTSI investigator, and colleagues looked at the ECGs of 10,101 women, aged 55 and older, who participated in the Raloxifene Use for the Heart (RUTH) trial. The researchers found that 59 percent of ECGs were normal, 69 percent of which were from women at increased risk for CHD and 50 percent of which were from women with documented CHD. Read more...