A 5-year follow-up of young men with primary T wave aberrations in their electrocardiograms.
Forty-eight subjects (group T) with primary T wave aberrations in their electrocardiograms (e.g. notches, flattening or inversion in leads II, CR4 and CR7 but without a concomitant ST depression) and 38 controls (group C), examined previously at the age of 18-19 years, were re-examined after 5.4 and 7.5 years respectively. The incidence of heart disease between the two examinations was lower in group T than in the controls. The T wave aberration had decreased in severity in 22 subjects in group T, but 66% of them still showed T wave aberrations at rest. Only one subject was free from T wave aberrations during orthostasis. Beta-adrenergic blockade in 27 subjects in group T suggested that 3 possibly had organic genesis to the aberrations. The earlier reported signs of high sympathetic tone in group T had decreased, but a somewhat higher heart rate and diastolic blood pressure than in the controls still remained. The systolic time intervals suggested larger stroke volumes in group T than in the controls and did not indicate decreased myocardial performance in group T. The attenuated differences between groups T and C in T wave abnormality, heart rate and blood pressure over the follow-up period suggest that T wave abnormality as an isolated finding in young men is a benign finding.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001285:Atropine / Q000494:pharmacology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006321:Heart / Q000503:physiopathology; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011187:Posture; D011379:Prognosis; D011433:Propranolol / Q000494:pharmacology; D013599:Systole
D001285:Atropine; D011433:Propranolol