Evaluation of relationships between results of electrocardiography and echocardiography in 341 chimpanzees (

To examine potential relationships between ECG characteristics and echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure in chimpanzees ( 341 chimpanzees (175 males and 166 females) from 5 sanctuaries and 2 zoological collections. Chimpanzees were anesthetized for routine health examinations between May 2011 and July 2017 as part of the International Primate Heart Project and, during the same anesthetic events, underwent 12-lead ECG and transthoracic echocardiographic assessments. Relationships between results for ECG and those for echocardiographic measures of atrial areas, left ventricular internal diameter in diastole (LVIDd), and mean left ventricular wall thicknesses (MLVWT) were assessed with correlational analysis, then multiple linear regression analyses were used to create hierarchical models to predict cardiac structure from ECG findings. Findings indicated correlations ( Results indicated that relationships existed between ECG findings and cardiac morphology in the chimpanzees of the present study; however, further research is required to examine whether the predictive models generated can be modified to improve their clinical utility.