Comparison of the Electrocardiographic Characteristics of Junior Athletes and Untrained Subjects

The hearts of highly trained athletes show morphologic and electrocardiographic (ECG) changes that suggest the presence of cardiovascular disease, including sinus bradycardia, a striking increase in precordial R-wave or S-wave voltages, ST segment depression, and T-wave inversions. Despite a number of previous observational surveys, the determinants of abnormal ECG patterns in trained athletes remain largely unresolved. In this study, we compared the electrocardiographic characteristics of athletes to determine any sensitive indicators. Comparison between ECG patterns and cardiac physiology was performed in 21 junior athletes and 25 untrained subjects with no signs of cardiac disease. Sinus bradycardia was detected in a subset of athletes but not statistically significant between the athletes ($69.9{\pm}11.1bpm$) and the control ($72.7{\pm}9.9bpm$) group. The mean values of the PR and QTc intervals in the athletes' group were $149.2{\pm}15.4ms$ and $402.3{\pm}28.8ms$, respectively. Also, there were no significantly differences between control group and the athletes' group. In addition, the athletes demonstrated a spectrum of alterations in the 12-lead ECG pattern, including marked increase in precordial R-wave or S-wave voltages ($$SV_1+RV_5{\geq_-}35mm$$, 23.8%), QRS duration ($${\geq_-}90ms$$, 90.5%), suggestive of left ventricular hypertrophy. However, left axis deviation, ST segment depression, and T-wave changes in V5, V6 were not observed in either the athletes or control group. Our findings suggest that sinus bradycardia, precordial R-wave or S-wave voltages, and QRS duration seem to be more sensitively detected in athletes than in control group. Further researches on the electrocardiographic patterns of athletes should be carried out to improve the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic criteria.