Poor R Wave Progression

I was recently declined life insurance because of poor R wave progression on an EKG done over 3 years ago.  What exactly does this mean?  I'm meeting with my personal physician next week who may schedule a complete cardiac work-up.  3 years ago he had compared the EKG tracing with another one done several years earlier and he (obviously) wasn't that concerned.  I remember him saying that's just the way my heart is. . . .   I am 47 years old and have been overweight most of my life.

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

Poor R wave progression can but does not always indicate a previous heart attack.  In other circumstances it reflects a different orientation to the heart or a normal variant, meaning that nothing is truly wrong, you EKG just looks different.  An echocardiogram and stress test should be able to answer the question but I am not sure that it wil change the minds of the insurance company.

I hope this helps.

[matandrew]

A related discussion, what is the meaning of poor r wave progression was started.