Electrocardiographic patterns in an urban community of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Mean EKG parameters in the population of Bukavu are similar to those found in other regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and in the world. Except for large Sokolow-Lyon indices EKG variants such as large ST segment elevation and T wave inversion found among asymptomatic Blacks in certain other regions of SSA are not found in Bukavu. The scarcity of AF suggests that other aetiologies do account for the increasing incidence of ischaemic strokes in the studied population. Prolonged QT_c was related to female gender, hypertension and diabetes.