The prevalence of early repolarization variant in Turkish male subjects: A clinical single center study

OBJECTIVES

Early repolarization variant (ERV) has traditionally been considered to be a benign finding, but the presence of this pattern has recently been associated with vulnerability to ventricular fibrillation in many case reports and case–control studies. There is no information regarding the prevalence of ERV in Turkish population. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of ERV in a sample of healthy Turkish male population.
Study Design:
We assessed the prevalence of ERV on 12-lead electrocardiography in a community-based general population of 504 healthy male subjects (37.3±10.7 year of age). ERV was stratified by two independent cardiologists according to the J-point elevation (>=0.1 mV) in either inferior, lateral or both leads with a slurring or notching in QRS.

RESULTS

The ERV pattern was present in 34 subjects (6.7%): 19 subjects (3.8%) displayed ERV on lateral leads, 7 (1.4%) on inferior leads and 8 (1.6%) on both lateral and inferior leads.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of ERV in healthy Turkish male population seems to be similar to the findings of previous population based studies