Monday, 1 September 2008 - European Heart Journal

262 Exercise testing in athletes: new answers from an old test
The amplitude and duration of the P, Q, R, S, and T waves was measured. Specific
note was made of the presence of deep (>-0.2mV) T-wave inversions (excluding
V1, aVr, isolated III or isolated aVl), pathological q waves (> 40 ms in
duration and > 25% of the height of the proceeding R wave). The Romhilt-Estes
points’ score and Sokolow-Lyon voltage criterion for LVH were calculated in each
athlete.
Results: None of the athletes exhibited features consistent with HCM at echocardiography.
Of the 1719 males, 35 (2%) exhibited deep T wave inversions, 15
(0.9%) showed q waves and 172 (10%) fulfilled the Romhilt-Estes points score of
≥ 5 to indicate LVH. In contrast, none of the females demonstrated deep T wave
inversions, pathological q waves or the Romhilt-Estes points score ≥ 5. Males
exhibited a significantly higher prevalence of the Sokolow-Lyon voltage criterion
for LVH compared with females (41.9%vs 14.7%; p