The Role of Primary Arrhythmias in the Sudden Death of Young Athletes Center for Syncope and Cardiac Arrhythmias for children and adolescents

Abstract

<dm:abstracts xmlns:dm="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/dm/dtd"><ce:abstract xmlns:ce="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/common/dtd" id="ab0005" xml:lang="en" view="all" class="author"><ce:section-title id="st0005">Abstract</ce:section-title><ce:abstract-sec id="as0005" view="all"><ce:simple-para id="sp0055" view="all">With advancing age, the conduction system and heart muscle cells undergo degenerative alterations affecting the electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters. The goal of the study is to determine the effect of age on ECG parameters. Are these changes due to a ‘normal aging’ or are they indicative to a ‘heart disease’?</ce:simple-para><ce:simple-para id="sp0060" view="all">Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging (ILSA) database has been created to evaluate physiologic and pathologic modifications connected with aging. Standard 12-leads ECG recordings (10 s, 500 Hz) have been taken twice in a period of three years. The database consists of 890 individuals aged 65–84 years.</ce:simple-para><ce:simple-para id="sp0065" view="all">Analysis of changes has been done also in two groups of individuals in ILSA database – with and without cardiovascular abnormality. This analysis showed a nearly equal age-related change in both groups.</ce:simple-para><ce:simple-para id="sp0070" view="all">The main changes are reduction in the amplitudes of QRS- and T-waves, referred as ‘ECG attenuation phenomenon’. QRS<ce:inf loc="post">t1</ce:inf> = 0.85 mV at the time of the first recording t1, and QRS<ce:inf loc="post">t2</ce:inf> = 0.81 mV at the time of the second recording t2, the period between the two recordings being three years (p &lt; 0.0001). Respectively T<ce:inf loc="post">t1</ce:inf> = 0.11 mV, T<ce:inf loc="post">t2</ce:inf> = 0.10 mV, p = 0.0013.</ce:simple-para><ce:simple-para id="sp0075" view="all">ECG attenuation phenomenon is more common in males, and it is not significant in females. This attenuation is manifested significantly also in healthy male group, suggesting geriatric changes of “normal aging”. Nevertheless, some cardiovascular diseases, such as arrhythmias and hypertension, may have a strong influence on the QRS attenuation, and this supports the open question of the clinical relevance of the phenomenon.</ce:simple-para><ce:simple-para id="sp0080" view="all">ECG attenuation phenomenon is more manifested in younger individuals and occurs independently of body mass.</ce:simple-para><ce:simple-para id="sp0085" view="all">ECG attenuation phenomenon is a significant fact, and therefore it should be considered in any serial ECG study, for example in the ECG analysis for human identification.</ce:simple-para></ce:abstract-sec></ce:abstract></dm:abstracts>