Do sporting activities and using protein supplements change the frontal QRS-T angle?

BACKGROUND In this study, we investigated whether the frontal QRS-T angle was different between the athletes and normal healthy people. METHODS The study included 122 healthy athletes (the mean age was 29.7±7.7 years, of them, were 73.8% male) and a control group consisted of 60 healthy people (the mean age was 29.8±7.8 years, of them, were 26% male). Then, the athletes were divided into two groups as who used protein supplements (PS) and those who did not. In the 12-lead ECG, heart rate (HR), P, QRS, QT, corrected QT (QTc) duration, QT and corrected QT dispersion (QTD, QTcD), the sum of V1 or V2S amplitude and V5 or V6R amplitude (V1/2S+V5/6R), frontal QRS-T angle were calculated. RESULTS There was no significant difference between the athletes and control groups regarding age, gender, smoking, body mass index, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), echocardiographic features, P, PR duration, P, QRS, T axis, QTD and QTcD (p>0.05).HR and QTc were significantly lower (p 0.05). However, male gender was dominant in the PS users group (p=0.018). The P axis, PR and QRS duration were longer in the PS users group (p<0.05).It was found that the T axis was negatively correlated (r=-0.431,p<0.001) but the QRS axis was positively correlated (r =0.395,p<0.001) with frontal QRS-T angle. CONCLUSIONS The frontal QRS-T angle, was found to be wider in athletes compared to normal healthy participants. However, there was no significant difference between who used PS and those who didn't.