ECGs Not Much Better Predictor than Clinical Assessment

Still think they have any idea of what they are doing? EKGs have been around forever, billions have likely been spent on them and now they are telling us that their usefulness is questionable.

"A thorough clinical assessment of suspected angina provided nearly as much prognostic information as resting and exercise ECGs, a British cohort study found.

There were only small, non-significant, differences in composite death from coronary heart disease or non-fatal acute coronary syndrome between groups of patients who had clinical assessment only and those who also had either a resting or exercise ECG, said Adam D. Timmis, M.D., of Barts and the London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Furthermore, almost half (47%) of all coronary events that occurred during the approximately two-and-a half-year follow-up occurred in patients who'd had a negative exercise ECG that did not indicate any heart problems, Dr. Timmis and colleagues reported online in BMJ."

Let me be clear.

There is no beef with EKGs, in particular, here at Fitness Watch. Maybe they are great, maybe they are not. The data remains conflicting for now. And that is the point.

For reliability, there are only principles upon which we rely.

One principle is that "Truth has a shelf life."

Clearly this is absolutely true in the domains of fitness and health.

It must be this way since newer "knowledge" changes how we relate to and value older "knowledge." 

Specifically, as regards fitness, I submit that there is no real new "knowledge" being offered, that all one needs to know to succeed is out there and that what we are fed by the powers that be is deception, not knowledge.

Success, in any undertaking, is most likely if one relies on immutable laws, not moving targets.

For example, it is simply not possible to end up poorer in a given sequence of transactions if one bought low, then sold high.

If you want to lose weight, if you want to get fitter, if you want to be able to participate more fully in life, then follow the principles that cannot fail you.

Following Big Sick Care, Big Pharma, Big Oprah and her experts, etc., will fail you (and do fail you) with certainty.

The New Year is nigh.

Give yourself a real chance to make this next year your best year and distance yourself from your executioners, IMHO.