Prevalence of early repolarization pattern and its association with sudden cardiac death and arrhythmia over one-year follow-up in an Egyptian cohort

Abstract Background and objectives Early repolarization pattern (ERP) is not uncommon electrocardiography (ECG) finding and could be associated with arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death (SCD). We aimed to prospectively determine the prevalence of ERP and its association with arrhythmia and SCD during one-year follow-up in an outpatient Egyptian cohort. Methods Clinical assessment and ECG were performed to 1850 consecutive individuals presented at the outpatient clinic of Suez Canal University Hospital (SCUH). Then, the ERP group and 100 age and gender-matched ERP −ve controls had undergone echocardiography, 24-h Holter ECG and exercise stress ECG. Results ERP was found in 124 individuals (6.7%); we excluded 24 patients with structural heart disease. ERP group (No. = 100) were relatively young (80% 2 , P value  Conclusions In outpatient-based Egyptian cohort, the prevalence of ERP was 6.7%, mostly the inferolateral pattern. Our ERP subjects had low-risk clinical and ECG criteria for malignant ERP. Further epidemiological studies are needed to explore the natural history of ERP.