• Europace · Oct 2019

    Normal and abnormal QT interval duration and its changes in preadolescents and adolescents practicing sport.

    • Flavio D'Ascenzi, Francesca Anselmi, Francesca Graziano, Beatrice Berti, Andrea Franchini, Elodi Bacci, Chiara Ceccon, Massimo Capitani, Marco Bonifazi, and Sergio Mondillo.
    • Division of Cardiology, Department of Medical Biotechnologies, University of Siena, Viale M. Bracci, 16, Siena, Italy.
    • Europace. 2019 Oct 1; 21 (10): 1566-1574.

    AimsTwelve-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is an established tool in the evaluation of athletes, providing information about life-threatening cardiovascular diseases, such as long QT syndrome. However, the interpretation of ECG is sometimes challenging in children, particularly for the repolarization phase. The aim of this prospective, longitudinal study was to determinate the distribution of QT interval in children practicing sport and to evaluate changes in QT duration overtime.Methods And ResultsA population of 1473 preadolescents practising sport (12.0 ± 1.8 years, 7-15 years) was analysed. Each athlete was evaluated at baseline, mid-term, and end of the study (mean follow-up: 3 ± 1 years). QT interval was corrected with Bazett (B) and Fridericia (F) formulae. At baseline QT interval corrected with the Bazett formula (QTcB) was 412 ± 25 ms and QT interval corrected with the Fridericia formula (QTcF) 387 ± 21 ms, with no changes during follow-up. Ten children (0.68%) had an abnormal QTc. In those with QTcB and QTcF ≥480 ms, QTc duration persisted abnormal during the follow-up and they were disqualified. Conversely, children with 460 ms < (QTcB) <480 ms had a normal QTc interval at the end of the study. These children had also a normal QTcF. Mean difference in the calculation of QT between the two formulae was 25 ± 11 ms (P < 0.0001). For resting heart rate (HR) ≥82 b.p.m., QTcF was independent from HR contrary to QTcB.ConclusionNormal QTc interval does not change over time in preadolescents. A minority of them has a QTc ≥480 ms; in these subjects, QTc interval remains prolonged. The use of Bazett and Fridericia correction formulae is not interchangeable and the Fridericia correction should be preferred in preadolescents with a resting HR ≥82 b.p.m.Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2019. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…