Gender related modification in ECG and VCG in elderly people

giovanni bortolan1, Ivaylo Christov2, Iana Simova3
1IN-CNR, 2Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering - Bulg. Accad. of Sci, 3Acibadem City Clinic Cardiovascular Center- University Hospital, Sofia


Abstract

Objective: Objective of the current study was to investigate the effect of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus on modifications in morpho-logical electrocardiographic (ECG) and vectorcardiographic (VCG) features, considering an elderly population, most of them with multiple comorbidities. Materials. Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging (ILSA-CNR) database was created to evaluate physiologic and pathologic modifications connected with aging. Standard 12-leads ECG recordings (10 sec, 500 Hz) were taken with a follow-up of three years. The study examined 1109 males and 918 females aged 65-84 years. For this study 21 parameters were considered: 10 from ECG signal, 10 from VCG signal and Heart Rate (HR). Among non-standard indices: T-area dispersion (TWAD) QRS & T wave roundness in-dex. Results and Discussion. The differences between healthy control group and groups with different disease are compared and statistically significant results are studied and outlined. The comparison of some parameters are reported in the Table. Only five parameters, all related to T-wave, presented statistically significant differences both for males and females; in particular, TWAD, T-ratio, T-roundness, T-PCA and T amplitude showed significant differences between healthy group and Diabetes, Angina, Hypertension, MI, Arrhythmia and Hearth Failure. For QRS related parameters there is a differentiate be-havior between males and females. For example, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes have significant effect on ECG&VCG in older males. Myocar-dial Infarction, Arrhythmia, and Hearth Failure are the diseases with greatest impact on the ECG and VCG parameters.