BACKGROUND This research study aimed at assessing the electrocardiographic (ECG) changes caused by ageing in a cohort of healthy subjects with normal echocardiographic examinations. METHODS A total of 219 healthy individuals (119 males and 100 females) were evaluated for possible arrhythmias with a standard 12-lead resting ECG and 24-h Holter ECG. As the recordings were performed between 1998 and 2000, a 20-year follow-up study was carried out by assessing the local medical records to investigate whether the subjects had experienced any cardiovascular health complications or disease since the baseline assessment. RESULTS Eighty-three subjects (45 males and 38 females) presented with pathological ECG findings at baseline. The most common finding on analysis of Holter ECG recordings was premature atrial contractions, and the most severe pathological finding was episodes of ventricular tachycardia (eight subjects). Regarding the analysis of the standard 12-lead ECG, the most common finding was left ventricular hypertrophy, and the most severe pathological findings were ST-T changes and prolongation of the QT interval. Despite other cardiac examinations performed on these patients showing normal results, in combination with a strict inclusion criterion, this study showed that 28% of all subjects had pathological resting 12-lead ECGs at rest and 35% had pathological heart rhythms when assessed by 24-h Holter ECG. At follow-up, 21% of females and 43% of males had presented with ECG abnormalities, and 30% of females and 36% of males had cardiovascular disease. There was hypertension in 45% of females and in 58% of males. However, no association was found between the follow-up findings and ECG changes seen at baseline. CONCLUSION Although most ECG changes found at baseline could be considered as a normal variation, they may progress to more severe heart complications as the subject ages. The results of this study also validate ECG findings of previous studies and underline that diagnostic criteria should be based on gender and age.

中文翻译：

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不同年龄的心脏健康个体的心电图变化是否与 20 年后的心脏病有关？

背景 本研究旨在评估一组超声心动图检查正常的健康受试者因衰老引起的心电图 (ECG) 变化。方法 使用标准的 12 导联静息心电图和 24 小时动态心电图评估总共 219 名健康个体（119 名男性和 100 名女性）的可能心律失常。由于记录是在 1998 年至 2000 年间进行的，因此通过评估当地医疗记录进行了 20 年的跟踪研究，以调查受试者自基线评估以来是否经历过任何心血管健康并发症或疾病。结果 83 名受试者（45 名男性和 38 名女性）在基线时出现了病理 ECG 结果。对动态心电图记录的分析最常见的发现是心房过早收缩，最严重的病理发现是室性心动过速发作（8 名受试者）。对标准12导联心电图的分析，最常见的发现是左心室肥大，最严重的病理发现是ST-T改变和QT间期延长。尽管对这些患者进行的其他心脏检查显示正常结果，结合严格的纳入标准，这项研究表明，28% 的所有受试者在休息时有病理性静息 12 导联心电图，35% 在由 24- 评估时有病理性心律。 h 动态心电图。随访时，21%的女性和43%的男性出现心电图异常，30%的女性和36%的男性出现心血管疾病。45% 的女性和 58% 的男性患有高血压。然而，随访结果与基线时的心电图变化之间没有发现关联。结论 尽管在基线时发现的大多数心电图变化可被视为正常变化，但随着受试者年龄的增长，它们可能会发展为更严重的心脏并发症。本研究的结果也验证了先前研究的心电图结果，并强调诊断标准应基于性别和年龄。