Prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive and normotensive type 2 diabetic females in Port Harcourt

This study investigated the prevalence of electrocardiographically determined left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive and normotensive type 2 diabetic females who went for consultation at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Rivers State, Nigeria. Two hundred participants mean age 52 years, attending the medical outpatient clinic over a 6-month period were recruited for the study. Of the population studied, 16.5% of the hypertensive and 13.0% of the normotensive diabetics had left ventricular hypertrophy. Cardiovascular abnormalities notably bifascicular block, left atrial block, right ventricular enlargement, and right atrial enlargement were predominately among hypertensive diabetes and also notably was arrhythmia and atrial flutter among normotensive diabetes. The significance of these findings is discussed.