This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Nay, P. Articles by McNamara, P. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Nay, P. Articles by McNamara, P. M.

Circulation, Vol 51, 462-466, Copyright © 1975 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

The omnicardiogram Study of a proposed method for detecting coronary heart disease in an asymptomatic population

P Nay, WB Kannel, WP Castelli and PM McNamara

A proprietary, commercial technique has been proposed by its inventor as a noninvasive method of detecting subtle electrocardiogram abnormalities, not apparent by conventional means. To study the ability of the omnicardiogram to detect latent coronary heart disease in an asymptomatic population, 200 normal electrocardiograms from the Framingham Study cohort were analyzed by this technique. One-half of these consisted of the last normal electrocardiogram prior to development of clinical coronary heart disease. The omnicardiogram showed a higher degree of sensitivity than did the electrocardiogram to coronary heart disease, indicating an increased risk of myocardial infarction in this group. The low specificity of this technique as indicated by the large percentage of false positives shows that the omnicardiogram is not diagnostic of coronary heart disease in asymptomatic persons with normal electrocardiograms.