Heart morphology differences induced by intrauterine growth restriction and preterm birth measured on the ECG at preadolescent age

Abstract

[EN] Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) and premature birth are associated with higher risk of cardiovascular diseases throughout adulthood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of these factors in ventricular electrical remodeling in preadolescents. Electrocardiography was performed in a cohort of 33-IUGR, 32-preterm with appropriate weight and 60 controls. Depolarization and repolarization processes were studied by means of the surface ECG, including loops and angles corresponding to QRS and T-waves. The angles between the dominant vector of QRS and the frontal plane XY were different among the study groups: controls [20.03 degrees(10.11 degrees-28.64 degrees)], preterm [25.48 degrees(19.79 degrees-33.56 degrees)], and IUGR [27.77 degrees(16.59 degrees-33.23 degrees)]. When compared to controls, IUGR subjects also presented wider angles between the difference of QRS and T-wave dominant vectors and the XY-plane [5.28 degrees +/- 12.15 degrees vs 0.49 degrees +/- 14.15 degrees, p 0.05] while preterm ones showed smaller frontal QRS-T angle [4.68 degrees(2.20 degrees-12.89 degrees) vs 6.57 degrees(2.72 degrees-11.31 degrees), p 0.05]. Thus, electrical remodeling is present in IUGR and preterm preadolescents, and might predispose them to cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. Follow-up studies are warranted. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ; N.Ortigosa acknowledgesthe support fromGeneralitatValenciana under grants PrometeoII/2013/013, ACOMP/2015/186, and MINECO under grant MTM2013-43540-P. This project has also been partially funded by TEC2013-42140-R and TIN2014-53567-R from CICYT, by Grupo Consolidado BSICoS from DGA (Aragon) and European Social Fund, the Erasmus + Program of the European Union (Framework Agreement number: 2013-0040), the South -Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, the Bergesen foundation and grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant numbers PI12/00801 and PI14/00226); Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (grant number SAF2012-37196), cofinanced by the ...