Open AccessAge and Gender Specific Criteria for Signal‐Averaged Electrocardiographic Parameters in Healthy Chinese Children
Author(s) -
Ho Ting Fei,
Yip William C.L.,
Chan Kit Yee
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
annals of noninvasive electrocardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.494
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1542-474X
pISSN - 1082-720X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1542-474x.1996.tb00282.x
Subject(s) - medicine , percentile , qrs complex , cardiology , signal averaged electrocardiogram , root mean square , mean value , statistics , mathematics , electrical engineering , engineering
Background: Detection of late potentials (LPs) using signal‐averaged electrocardiograms (SAECGs) is believed to help in the prediction of malignant ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in adults. Criteria for detection of LPs in adults may not be applicable for children, as these measurements are known to be age and sex specific. Method: SAECGs were recorded using MAC 15 ECG System. Duration of filtered QRS (TQRS), duration of high frequency, low amplitude signals in the terminal portion of QRS complex that are < 40 μV (HFLA), and root mean square voltage of the last 40 ms of the filtered QRS (RMS 40 ) were determined for 535 healthy Chinese children, ages 6–17 years (268 males, 267 females). Results: Both mean TQRS and RMS 40 were significantly different between the male and female children (TQRS: 106 ms vs 101 ms, P < 0.001; and RMS 40 : 62 μV vs 75 μV, P < 0.001). Mean TQRS and HFLA increased significantly with age, while mean RMS 40 decreased with age (P < 0.0001). Ninetieth percentile values of TQRS and HFLA and tenth percentile value of RMS 40 were used as cut‐off values for normal limits. As such, the criteria for normal TQRS, HFLA, and RMS 4O were: TQRS < 117 ms; HFLA < 35 ms; and RMS 40 >12 μV. Since TQRS and RMS 40 were gender specific, the criteria for male and female were: TQRS: Male < 118 ms, female < 111 ms; and RMS 40 : Male >9 μV, female >17 μV. Conclusion: TQRS, HFLA, and RMS 40 were shown to be age and sex specific in healthy Chinese children. The criteria for normal TQRS, HFLA and RMS 40 were different from those proposed for adults, and this may be partly due to technical differences of the recording system.