ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN PATIENTS WITH INTRATHORACIC SARCOIDOSIS - INFLUENCE ON PROGNOSIS

A retrospective evaluation of 244 electrocardiograms obtained at rest at time of diagnosis from a population of 254 patients with intrathora cic sarcoidosis was carried out. Thirty-five (14%) were abnormal. Sinu s tachycardia was present in 17 (7%),the rest encompassing various deg rees of right-sided bundle branch, atrioventricular first degree block , ventricular extrasystolia and ST-depression. At follow-up after a me dian time of 27 years we found a significantly higher mortality risk i n the group with EGG-changes compared to those without. Excess mortali ty was increased when comparing patients with tachycardia to those wit hout. However, when adjusted for FEV(1), the risk of death was not sig nificantly different between the two groups.