Women have a higher risk of developing torsade de pointes under QT-prolonging conditions. The electrophysiological differences
between the sexes that could account for this are largely unknown. The objective of the work was to evaluate gender differences
in repolarisation potentials using a method that is independent of the specific electrical properties of the thorax. 1410
normal recordings from the Glasgow 12-lead ECG database and 52 normal ECG maps obtained separately in Milan were analysed.
The average difference between 1 and the correlation coefficient of the instantaneous pattern at the peak of T with that at
every other instant is called the early repolarisation deviation index (ERDI) for J-T peak and the late repolarisation deviation
index (LRDI) for T peak-T end. In standard ECG recordings, the ERDI was 0.42±0.22 in females compared with 0.19±0.16 in males
(p<10
−6). The LRDI was higher in males under the age of 50. In body surface maps, the ERDI was 0.32±0.21 in females against 0.16±0.17
in males (p<0.01), and the LRDI was non-significantly higher in males. The pattern of instantaneous body surface potentials
showed gender differences during repolarisation with a method that is independent of the electrical properties of the thorax.
Keywords
ECG
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Surface potential mapping
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Epidemiology
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Gender
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Ventricular Repolarisation