Clinical and electrocardiographic profile of patients with palpitations in cardiology outpatient consultations in Yaounde

Abstract

Introduction: Palpitation is a major cause of consultation in Cardiology clinics and Emergency departments. In Cameroon, there are few studies done on this frequent symptom and therefore is poorly understood in our setting.

Purpose: To describe the clinical and electrocardiographic profile of patients presenting with palpitations at the cardiology outpatient consultations of two reference hospitals in Yaoundé

Methods: We carried out a descriptive cross-sectional study from November 2016 to May 2017 in two reference hospitals in Yaoundé: General Hospital and Central Hospital. Participants in the outpatient unit with palpitation as presenting complain were recruited after giving their consent. Data collected were analysed using IBM SPSS 23.0.

Results: 210 participants were included. The hospital prevalence of palpitation was 18.7% for the General Hospital and 25.9% for the Central Hospital and an overall prevalence of 21%. The mean age of the participants was 47.3 +/- 18 years. The most represented age group was “56 and older” group (n=69, 32.8%). Females constituted 75% (n=157) of our study population. Hypertension was the most frequent predisposing factor (n=59, 28.1%). The most frequent associated symptom was dyspnea (n=80, 38.1%); 28.6% (n=60) of participants had chest pain. The most observed sign on physical examination was a heart murmur (n=45, 21.4%). On electrocardiography, 86.8% (n=182) of the study population had a normal sinus rhythm. The most common abnormality on ECG was a left ventricular hypertrophy (n=26, 12.4%). Sinus tachycardia was found to be the most frequent rhythm disturbance (n=25, 11.9%) followed by sinus bradycardia (n=12, 5.7%) and atrial fibrillation (n=8, 3.8%).

Conclusion: Palpitation is a very frequent symptom in our setting. It is mostly associated was dyspnea. The most frequent findings on ECG are left ventricular hypertrophy and sinus tachycardia.

Keywords: Palpitation, Clinical aspects, ECG, Hospital