title: Sex-steroid hormones and electrocardiographic QT-interval duration: findings from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
abstract: The association between physiologic levels of sex hormones and QT-interval duration in humans was evaluated using data from 727 men enrolled in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and 2,942 men and 1,885 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Testosterone, estradiol, and sex hormone-binding globulin levels were measured in serum and free testosterone was calculated from those values. QT interval was measured using a standard 12-lead electrocardiogram. In men from the Third National Health and Nutrition Survey, the multivariate adjusted differences in average QT-interval duration comparing the highest quartiles with the lowest quartiles of total testosterone and free testosterone were -8.5 ms (95% confidence interval (CI): -15.5, -1.4) and -8.0 ms (95% CI: -13.2, -2.8), respectively. The corresponding differences were -1.8 ms (95% CI: -3.8, -0.2), and -4.7 ms (95% CI: -6.7, -2.6), respectively, in men from MESA and -0.6 ms (95% CI: -3.0, 1.8) and 0.8 ms (95% CI: -1.6, 3.3), respectively, in postmenopausal women from MESA. Estradiol levels were not associated with QT-interval duration in men, but there was a marginally significant positive association in postmenopausal women. The findings suggest that testosterone levels may explain differences in QT-interval duration between men and women and could be a contributor to population variability in QT-interval duration among men.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Yiyi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.forename: Wendy S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Post
authors.forename: Darshan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dalal
authors.forename: Dhananjay
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vaidya
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blasco-Colmenares
authors.forename: Elsayed Z
authors.initials: EZ
authors.lastname: Soliman
authors.forename: Gordon F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Tomaselli
authors.forename: Eliseo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guallar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000097:blood*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008133:Long QT Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D017698:Postmenopause; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D013739:Testosterone