title: Assessment of QT interval duration and dispersion in athlete's heart.
abstract: An athlete's heart is characterized by morphological and functional changes occurring as a consequence of regular physical exercise. We sought to determine if these physiological changes lead to ventricular repolarization abnormalities in trained athletes. Forty-four trained athletes and 35 sex- and age-matched healthy sedentary controls were included in the study. A 12-lead surface electrocardiogram (ECG) was obtained from all participants. Maximum QT (QTmax) and minimum QT (QTmin) interval durations, QT dispersion (QTd) and corrected QT dispersion (QTcd) were calculated for each ECG record. Heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were found to be identical in both groups. QTmax and QTmin interval durations were not statistically different between the athletic and control groups. Similarly, QTd and QTcd did not differ significantly between the two groups. No association was observed between an athlete's heart and ventricular heterogeneity compared with healthy sedentary controls, despite physiological and structural changes.
authors.affiliation: Kosuyolu Heart Education and Research Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turkmen
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barutcu
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Esen
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ocak
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Melek
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaya
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Karakaya
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saglam
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Basaran
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D006329:Heart Conduction System; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology; D013177:Sports; D013997:Time Factors