Analysis of the QT interval and its variability in healthy adults during rest and exercise

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to quantify the variability of electrocardiographic QT and RR intervals during rest and dynamic physical exercise, and to interpret these variabilities in terms of relative autonomic modulation of the atrial and ventricular myocardium. We also sought to characterize the relationships between QT, heart rate-corrected QT (QTc) and RR intervals, and to consider their associations with differential autonomic regulation. Nine males and eight females of similar age (22.8 ± 4.7 years), mass (75.5 ± 13.0 kg) and aerobic fitness (43.6 ± 7.7 ml kg−1 min−1) (mean ± SD) undertook progressive bicycle exercise. A three-lead Holter ECG was recorded continuously during pre-exercise, exercise and recovery, and mean values of RR, QT, QTc, QT variability index (QTVI) and mean-normalized QT variance (QTVN) were determined. At the onset of exercise QTVI increased rapidly compared with rest and remained significantly elevated throughout exercise and recovery. There were significant differences between QTaVI and QTeVI (QT measured from Q wave onset to T wave apex (QTa) and T wave end (QTe), respectively) throughout the experimental protocol. QTVI was significantly reduced in males compared with females prior to exercise but was similar thereafter. We suggest that physical exercise perturbs the resting QT–RR relationship owing to the onset of differential parasympathetic modulation of the atrial and ventricular myocardium. QTVI can be used to quantify the relative autonomic influence on the atrial and ventricular myocardium during rest and exercise, and might be related to HR-dependent and HR-independent influences on the QT interval.