Comparison of the derived vectorcardiogram in apparently healthy whites and Chinese

A total of 2,058 vectorcardiograms derived from the conventional 12-lead electrocardiogram (1,555 whites [884 men and 671 women], aged between 16 and 64 years, and 503 Chinese [248 men and 255 women], aged between 18 and 81 years) were analyzed. The results were assessed to demonstrate the importance of the impact of racial variation on vectorcardiographic appearances. The trend of the influence of age and sex on the magnitude and the direction of the QRS and T vectors was found to be similar in both races. In the groups aged younger than 40 years, the magnitude of the maximal spatial QRS vector was found to be greater in whites than in Chinese, while in the groups aged 40 years or older, it was greater in Chinese than in whites. Therefore, this indicates that it is necessary to take racial variation into consideration for interpretation of the derived vectorcardiogram. In conclusion, it has been shown in the present study that derived vectorcardiogram diagnostic criteria should not only be age and sex dependent but also race dependent.