Gender differences in QTc interval in young, trained individuals with lower spinal cord injury

Cross-sectional comparison.

To examine gender differences in rate-corrected QT interval (QTc), an index of ventricular depolarization/repolarization, in young, trained men and women with lower spinal cord injury (SCI) and able-bodied (AB) controls.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Exercise and Cardiovascular Research Lab, USA.

Subjects consisted of 16 athletes with SCI (eight men and eight women) and 16 age-matched AB active controls (eight men and eight women). QT interval dynamics was derived from ECG recordings and rate corrected using the Bazett formula.

Men with SCI had QTc similar to that of AB men (369.3+/-7.5 versus 357.9+/-3.0 ms, P>0.05). Women with SCI had QTc similar to that of AB women (400.0+/-4.6 versus 385.2+/-6.5 ms, P>0.05). AB women had longer QTc interval than AB men, and SCI women had longer QTc than SCI men (P<0.05).

Gender differences in ventricular depolarization/repolarization are present in trained individuals with SCI. Thus, similar to their AB gender-matched peers, women with SCI have longer QTc intervals and may be at greater risk for the development of untoward cardiac arrhythmias than men with SCI.