title: Atrioventricular conduction time--a heritable trait?
abstract: Routine electrocardiographic tracings (ECGs) were obtained from 491 male and 236 female Norwegians. The atrioventricular conduction time (P-R interval) was read independently on coded ECGs by two physicians. The frequency distributions are presented: mean +/- 2 SD was 0.16 +/- 0.04 s and 0.15 +/- 0.04 s for males and females, respectively. Intra-individual repeatability over 1 year was high, and the measurement error was small. Within each sex, body size, age, heart rate and non-cardiac disease manifestations had little influence on the P-R interval. The P-R interval may be reliably determined in routine ECG tracings by trained observers.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001283:Atrioventricular Node / Q000502:physiology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors