ECG Use in Annual Health Exams Is Still Common

In 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against routine screening with resting electrocardiography (ECG) in low-risk patients (Ann Intern Med 2012; 157:512). Whether this practice is still common is unclear. In this retrospective cohort study from Canada, researchers used an Ontario administrative health database to identify over 3.6 million adults with no known cardiovascular (CV) disease, risk factors, or procedures who underwent annual health examinations between 2010 and 2015; of these, about 780,000 received ECGs.

The proportion of patients who received ECGs varied from 1% to 95% across individual physicians; male physicians, international medical graduates, and those who had practiced for more than 30 years were mo…