Individually rate corrected QTc intervals in children and adolescents
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Supplementary information
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Accurate evaluation of the appearance of QTc sex differences during childhood and adolescence is intricate. Inter-subject differences of individual QT/RR patterns make generic heart rate corrections inaccurate because of fast resting heart rates in children. The study investigated 527 healthy children and adolescents aged 4 to 19 years (268 females, 50.9%). All underwent continuous ECG 12-lead monitoring while performing postural changes during a 70-minute investigative protocol to obtain QT interval measurements at different heart rates. On average, more than 1200 ECG measurements (QT interval and its 5-minute history of preceding RR intervals) were made in each subject. Curvilinear QT/RR regression involving intra-individual correction for QT/RR hysteresis were calculated in each subject. The projection of the QT/RR regressions to the heart rate of 60 beats per minute defined individually corrected QTc intervals. In males, gradual QTc shortening by about 15 ms appeared during the ages of 13-19 years and appeared synchronously with the incidence of secondary sex signs (p=0.016). On the contrary, whilst gradual QTc prolongation by about 10 ms appeared in females, it occurred only during ages 16-19 years and was not related to the incidence of secondary sex signs (p=0.18). The study also showed that in children and adolescents, linear QT/RR models fit the intra-subject data significantly more closely than the log-linear models (p<0.001). The study speculates that hormonal shifts during puberty might be directly responsible for the QTc shortening in males but that QTc prolongation in females is likely more complex since it was noted to follow the appearance of secondary sex signs only after a considerable delay.
Date Issued
2019-08-02
Date Acceptance
2019-07-18
Citation
Frontiers in Physiology, 2019, 10
ISSN
1664-042X
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Physiology
Volume
10
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Andršová, Hnatkova, Helánová, Šišáková, Novotný, Kala and
Malik. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in
other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s)
are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance
with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted
which does not comply with these terms.
Malik. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in
other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s)
are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance
with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted
which does not comply with these terms.
Sponsor
British Heart Foundation
Grant Number
NH/16/2/32499
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Physiology
age
sex differences
individual QT/RR patterns
QT/RR hysteresis
QTc interval
QT/RR slope
SECONDARY SEX CHARACTERISTICS
HEALTHY-SUBJECTS
QT/RR CURVATURES
THOROUGH
AGE
PROLONGATION
SAFETY
LENGTH
CYCLE
QT/RR hysteresis
QT/RR slope
QTc interval
age
individual QT/RR patterns
sex differences
0606 Physiology
1116 Medical Physiology
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 994