Reference values of electrocardiogram repolarization variables in a healthy population

Haarmark, Christian; Graff, Claus; Andersen, Mads P.; Hardahl, Thomas; Struijk, Johannes J.; Toft, Egon; Xue, Joel; Rowlandson, Gordon I.; Hansen, Peter R.; Kanters, Jørgen K.

doi:10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2009.08.001

« Previous Next »Journal of Electrocardiology
Volume 43, Issue 1 , Pages 31-39, January 2010

Reference values of electrocardiogram repolarization variables in a healthy population☆

Christian Haarmark, MD
- The Danish National Research Foundation Centre for Cardiac Arrhythmia (DARC), Copenhagen, Denmark
- Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Claus Graff, MScEng
- Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Mads P. Andersen, MScEng
- Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Thomas Hardahl, MScEng
- Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Johannes J. Struijk, PhD
- Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Egon Toft, MD PhD
- Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
- Department of Cardiology S, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Joel Xue, PhD
- General Electric Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI
Gordon I. Rowlandson, MScEng
- General Electric Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI
Peter R. Hansen, MD PhD
- Department of Cardiology P, Gentofte University Hospital, Hellerup, Denmark
Jørgen K. Kanters, MD
- The Danish National Research Foundation Centre for Cardiac Arrhythmia (DARC), Copenhagen, Denmark
- Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Cardiology S, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
- Department of Cardiology P, Gentofte University Hospital, Hellerup, Denmark
- Corresponding author. Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Panum, Building 6.6.40, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.

Received 7 January 2009 published online 09 September 2009.

Abstract

Introduction

Reference values for T-wave morphology analysis and evaluation of the relationship with age, sex, and heart rate are lacking in the literature. In this study, we characterized T-wave morphology in a large sample of healthy individuals.

Method

A total of 1081 healthy subjects (83% men; range, 17-81 years) were included. T-wave morphology variables describing the duration, area, slopes, amplitude, and distribution were calculated using 10-second digital electrocardiogram recordings. Multivariate regression was used to test for dependence of T-wave variables with the subject age, sex, and heart rate.

Results

Lead V5 (men vs women) T-wave variables were as follows: amplitude, 444 versus 317 μV; area, 48.4 versus 33.2 ms ⁎ mV; Tpeak-Tend interval, 94 versus 92 milliseconds; maximal descending slope, −5.15 versus −3.69 μV/ms; skewness, −0.24 versus −0.22; and kurtosis, −0.36 versus −0.35. Tpeak-Tend interval, skewness, and kurtosis were independent of age, sex, and heart rate (r² < 0.05), whereas Bazett-corrected QT-interval was more dependent (r² = 0.40).

Conclusion

A selection of T-wave morphology variables is found to be clinically independent of age, sex, and heart rate, including Tpeak-Tend interval, skewness, and kurtosis.

Keywords: Electrocardiography, Electrophysiology, QT-interval, T_pT_e interval, Repolarization