Related Experiment Videos
QT dispersion in the elderly. The ILSA Study.
Giovanni Bortolan1, Marta Bressan, Fiorenza Golferini
1Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Italian National Research Council (ISIB-CNR), Padova, Italy. Giovanni.Bortolan@isib.cnr.it
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research
|January 8, 2005
Summary
QT interval dispersion (QT-d) varies with age and gender across healthy, cardiac disease, and hypertension groups. These factors influence QT-d differently, impacting clinical applications.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Electrophysiology
- Gerontology
Background:
- QT interval dispersion (QT-d) is a non-invasive method to assess ventricular recovery homogeneity.
- Interest in QT-d has grown, but its clinical meaning and standardization require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate QT interval dispersion (QT-d) in older adults.
- To analyze the relationships between QT-d, age, and gender in different clinical groups.
Main Methods:
- Calculated QT-d using range and standard deviation of QT intervals from 12-lead ECG.
- Analyzed data from 256 healthy subjects, 98 cardiac disease patients, and 472 hypertension patients (all >64 years) from the ILSA study.
Main Results:
- Age and gender influenced QT-d differently across the three groups.
- Gender affected QT-d in healthy individuals (p < 0.001).
- Age affected QT-d in cardiac disease (p < 0.001) and hypertension (p < 0.02) groups.
- In females, QT-d increased with age only in the healthy group (p < 0.02).
- In males, QT-d increased with age in cardiac disease and hypertension groups (p < 0.01).
Conclusions:
- QT-d indices showed similar behavior.
- Age and gender influenced the clinical groups distinctly in older individuals.
- A clear threshold for clinical classification is not yet established, and direct clinical application remains uncertain.