Table 4.

Hazard Ratios (HRs) for Incidence of CHD Events in Older Adults According to the Presence of Any ECG Abnormality at Baseline and Any Incident and Persistent ECG Abnormalities at Follow-up^a

	No ECG Abnormality (n = 902)	Abnormality at Baseline Only (n = 144)	Persistent Abnormality at 4-Year Follow-up (n = 416)	New Abnormality at 4-Year Follow-up (n = 208)	P Valueb
CHD events (n = 185)c
No. of events	77	18	57	33
Rate per 1000 person-years (95% CI)	16.5 (12.3–20.6)	24.9 (14.7–39.2)	27.8 (21.0–36.0)	33.2 (22.8–46.6)
Age-adjusted HR (95% CI)	1.00	1.51 (0.90–2.52)	1.66 (1.18–2.34)	2.01 (1.33–3.02)	.003
CVRFs, adjusted HR (95% CI)d	1.00	1.43 (0.85–2.39)	1.52 (1.07–2.16)	1.97 (1.31–2.96)	.01
All-cause mortality (n = 348)
No. of events	172	22	100	54
Rate per 1000 person-years (95% CI)	32.2 (27.6–37.4)	25.8 (16.2–39.0)	41.4 (33.7–50.3)	45.9 (34.4–59.9)
Age-adjusted HR (95% CI)	1.00	0.83 (0.53–1.29)	1.25 (0.98–1.61)	1.45 (1.07–1.97)	.01
CVRFs, adjusted HR (95% CI)d	1.00	0.77 (0.49–1.20)	1.19 (0.92–1.53)	1.40 (1.03–1.91)	.02

Abbreviations: CHD, coronary heart disease; CVRFs, cardiovascular risk factors; ECG, electrocardiographic.

^aAny ECG abnormality indicates major and/or minor ECG abnormality. Inclusion of 1670 participants without events during first 4 years of follow-up and ECG data at baseline and 4-year follow-up only.

^bP value for linear trend across no abnormality, abnormality at baseline, and persistent abnormality at follow-up.

^cIncludes acute myocardial infarction, coronary death, hospitalization for angina, angioplasty of coronary arteries, and coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

^dAdjusted for age, sex, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, smoking, and diabetes.