Electrocardiography is the primary method of studying the cardiovascular system. Currently, there are no guidelines for the analysis of electrocardiograms in children and adolescents approved by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.
OBJECTIVE
To establish the relationship of anthropometric data, age, and gender with indicators of resting electrocardiography in children and adolescents.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
One thousand ninety-seven children and adolescents of both sexes (548 females and 549 males, p=1.000) were examined; the mean age was 12 (9; 15) and 11 (9; 14) years (p=0.150). All children underwent anthropometry and a 12-lead electrocardiogram. Statistical analysis was performed using the Jamovi 1.6.23.0 statistical software bundle.
RESULTS
Sinus rhythm was recorded in 94-95.4% of the examined children and adolescents. The median heart rate (HR) in females was statistically significantly higher than in males (78 (70; 86) vs. 75 (66; 82) beats per minute, respectively, p<0.001). The correlation analysis showed a statistically significant correlation of heart rate with age (r= –0.37; p<0.001), gender (r= –0.15; p<0.001), absolute height, body weight (r= from –0.35 to –0.31); p<0.001) and body mass index (r= –0.18; p<0.001). Analysis of multivariate regression models showed the highest value of the determination coefficient (R2=0.17, p<0.001) when combining the factors «Age» and «Gender» with a negative value of the regression coefficient.
CONCLUSION
The most significant contribution to the heart rate value in children and adolescents was gender and age, which should be considered when developing guidelines for analyzing and interpreting the resting electrocardiogram.