The literature is replete with evidence to show that, with advancing age, distinct changes occur in the electrocardiogram. One of the most obvious is the progressive decrease in the height of the T1‐wave. Because this change is so common, possibly it is part of the aging process.
A study of 164 presumably healthy subjects revealed: 1) a statistically significant low negative correlation between age and the height of T1 (r = −0.181, P < 0.05); 2) a low but statistically significant positive relationship (r = +0.197, P < 0.05) between age and reported cardiovascular complaints; 3) an even higher (r = +0.326, P < 0.01) statistically significant positive correlation of age and cardiovascular findings in subjects with relatively low T1 waves; and 4) no significant correlation (r = +0.009, P > 0.05) between age and cardiovascular reported findings in subjects with relatively high (1.6–4.0 mm) T1 waves.
Thus, within the limits of this study, reported cardiovascular findings increase with aging only in subjects whose electrocardiograms show relatively low T1 waves.