The normal pediatric Frank orthogonal electrocardiogram: variations according to age and sex

Quantitative computerized analysis of QRS and ST-T parameters of the Frank orthogonal electrocardiogram and vectorcardiogram was undertaken in a large series of 1317 normal infants, children and adolescents stratified according to age and sex. This study confirms the influence of these two constitutional variables, age and sex, over the normal VCG in the whole time span between birth and late adolescence. As children mature, the mid-portion of the spatial QRS loop shifts leftward and posteriorly with relatively little change in the initial and terminal vectors. The spatial T loop shifts anteriorly but at a different rate in males and in females. Unidirectional changes in many amplitude parameters are observed until age 19 in males whereas in females these changes stop earlier or even show a reverse trend around puberty, leading to more important differences between adolescent males and females. Sex-related differences are the most marked for parameters representing the repolarization process. Infants under six months of age form a distinct group with larger dispersions and more disparate variations in the values of vectorcardiographic parameters than in older children. In the newborn period larger sample size might be necessary in order to reduce the normal ranges of vectorcardiographic parameters.