Performance of the Peguero-Lo Presti Index in Diagnosis of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy at CIMAK Hospital Center in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Background and Objective: Despite the costs generated in the diagnosis of cardiac pathologies by the use of ultrasound, the ECG indices have demonstrated a high performance in the studies of developed countries in the diagnosis of these pathologies, but the data of these in sub-Saharan Africa are limited. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the Peguero-Lo Presti index in the diagnosis of LVH among Congolese in order to make it a means of LVH diagnosis in an under-equipped environment. Methods: Cross-sectional and analytical study including 413 patients followed and hospitalized at the CIMAK Hospital Center during the period from February 2019 to June 2021. Sociodemographic parameters, history, biology, ultrasound and ECG parameters were studied. The performance of the Peguero-Lo Presti Index was validated by the Youden Index reinforced by the Area under the ROC curve. Results: Of the 413 patients admitted to the study, 69.5% were men versus 30.5% women, i.e. a sex ratio of 2M/1F; the mean age of the patients was 51.1 ± 11.6 years. The frequency of LVH found by echocardiography was 55.9%, it was 50.8% using the Peguero-Lo Presti index, 22% and 10.2% using the Peguero-Lo Presti index, respectively. Sokolow-Lyon and Cornell (p 0.001). The Peguero-Lo Presti curve is higher than the Sokolow-Lyon and Cornell curves. The area under the curve was 0.80 for Peguero-Lo Presti, 0.73 for Sokolow-Lyon and 0.66 for cornell. Conclusion: The newly proposed Peguero-Lo Presti index provides high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of LVH in black Africans as also reported in the European and American population.