QT peak prolongation is not associated with left ventricular hypertrophy in teenage professional football players.
OBJECTIVE
QT peak prolongation is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients with hypertension. This study tests the hypothesis that QT peak prolongation correlates with LV mass index in apparently healthy young football players.


METHODS
QT peak and other ECG criteria for LVH were assessed in 117 male professional footballers (mean age 16.4 years +/- SD 0.76). Their left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was assessed by transthoracic echocardiography. Heart rate-corrected QT peak (QTpc) interval was measured in lead I using Bazett's formula. Spearman (2-tailed) test and UNIANOVA was used to assess if there were correlations between QT peak and the various echocardiographic and ECG indices of LVH.


RESULTS
Echocardiographic LVH, defined as LVMI > or = 134 g/m(2), was seen in 79 (70.5%) subjects. ECG-defined LVH was present in 54 (50 %) players by Sokolow-Lyon criteria, in 19 (16 %) players by Romhilt Score, in 5 (4 %) players by Cornell voltage criteria, and in 7 (6 %) players by Cornell product >2436 mm ms. There was no correlation between QT peak (QTpc) and LVMI on echocardiography (Spearman r = 0.058, 2-tailed P = 0.54). In addition, there was no relation between LVH and QTpc of lead I using any of the following ECG criteria: Sokolow-Lyon (P = 0.6), Romhilt (P = 0.3), Cornell voltage (P = 0.8), or Cornell product (P = 0.6).


CONCLUSIONS
QT peak interval, which is associated with pathological LVH in hypertensive patients and is a measure of risk of cardiac death, does not correlate with LVH characterized by myocyte hypertrophy in young apparently healthy professional footballers.
Alchaghouri
Samir
S
Cardiology Department, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, UK. msalri@hotmail.com
Wong
Kenneth Y K
KY
Perry
Raphael A
RA
Ramsdale
David R
DR
Somauroo
John D
JD
Pyatt
Jason R
JR
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric