The effect of sport on computerized electrocardiogram measurements in college athletes

Abstract

Significant ECG changes exist between college athletes participating in different sports, and these differences were more apparent in males than females. Therefore, sport-specific ECG criteria for abnormal ECG findings should be developed to obtain a more useful approach to ECG screening in athletes.

Visual or computer-based measurements: important for interpretation of athletes’ ECG

“…Computer-based algorithms also have more sophisticated calculations of amplitude-duration products and risk scores for sudden cardiac death 14. Still, Gademan et al 15 advised caution with computerised ECG measurements because they detect small, insignificant abnormalities that are ‘missed’ or usually regarded as normal by the physicians,13 as was the case in the present study for 122 ECGs according to the specified ESC recommendations and 63 ECGs according to the Seattle criteria.…”

“…If we had used QTc from the SGC to define a long QTc interval, one extra player had been classified with a long QTc interval, with a borderline value of 472 ms. If computer-based values considered out of range were reread visually and corrected, as described by Gademan et al ,15 it seems reasonable to trust normal QTc values measured from the SGC.…”

Influence of type of sport on cardiac repolarization assessed by electrocardiographic T-wave morphology combination score

“…[24] Compared to a control group from the general population matched for age and sex, the athletes exhibit higher values of MCS, flatness and asymmetry which is also consistent with data from literature. [23,24]Gademan et al [11] also found type of sport to influence ECG measurements with most pronounced effect of endurance sports. Compared to the MCS a difference between male and female athletes was found in the many various measurements which favours the MCS as a more simple method to assess the athlete's ECG.…”

“…Resting 12-lead ECG has been suggested as a useful tool to do so. [1] The search for reliable interpretation methods have included computerized measurement of ECG [10,11] with ambiguous conclusions.…”

Assessment of the 12-Lead ECG as a Screening Test for Detection of Cardiovascular Disease in Healthy General Populations of Young People (12–25 Years of Age)

“…179,180,182,183,[219][220][221][222][223][224][225][226][227] In this regard, in 2010 the ESC offered revised recommendations for defining abnormalities in ECGs in trained athletes, 183 with the intent to create a mechanism for reducing expected false-positive results (and increasing specificity) in preparticipation screening ECGs, that is, from unacceptably high rates of up to 15% to 20% to rates of ≤5%. ** This strategy has been based in part on the assumed premise that in young athletes and other young people, isolated increases in QRS voltages (in the absence of other pattern alterations) have limited specificity and are unlikely to be indicative of pathological hypertrophy (eg, as encountered in HCM).…”