The characteristics of infero-lateral early repolarisation are different between young males and females athletes

Purpose: Early Repolarisation in inf-lat leads (ER), a common ECG pattern in athletes, has been recently linked with an increased risk of cardiac death, particularly for some phenotypes ("malignant ER"): J wave amplitude > 2 mm in inferior leads with horizontal/descending ST segment. The aim of this study was to assess the different ECG phenotypes of ER in males and females young athletes. Methods: ECG was analysed in young (14-35 years) competitive athletes. ER was defined as J point elevation ≥ 1 mm in 2 or more contiguous leads (except V1-V3). Localisation of ER (inf, lat or inf-lat), for each localisation amplitude and morphology of J wave (notch, slurred or indeterminate) and ST segment pattern (ascending, horizontal/descending) were noted. Results: ECG of 1070 athletes (75% males, age 19.7±6.3 years) was analysed and result reported in Table 1. View this table: Table 1 Conclusions: The ER are different by sex: in males ER is more prevalent, more frequent in infero-lateral leads with notched or indeterminate J waves and ascending ST segment. In females, ER is more frequent in inferior leads with slurred J wave of lower amplitude and horizontal/descending ST segment. There is a trend towards more "malignant" ER in males. The clinical significance of these findings are currently undetermined.