ECG standards in elderly 'should be revised'

ECG standards in elderly 'should be revised': "ECG standards in elderly 'should be revised'

20 March 2008

MedWire News: Reference ranges for average electrocardiogram (ECG) intervals should be revised for the elderly, say US experts who found that these ranges were significantly higher than currently recommended thresholds in men and women aged 80 years and older.

Current standard ECG interval cut-offs are based largely on data for healthy middle-aged men, note Latha Stead from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues.

'What is normal for a population of middle-aged individuals may not be the same for the steadily increasing elderly population in this country,' Stead pointed out."/.../