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Background and aimEvidences suggest that androgen deficiency is associated with sudden cardiac death (SCD). Our purpose was to analyse some electrocardiographic (ECG) markers of repolarization phase in hypogonadal patients either at baseline or after testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).Patients and methodsBaseline and after 6 months of testosterone replacement therapy, 14 hypogonadal patients and 10 age-matched controls underwent a short-term ECG recordings at rest and immediately after a maximal exercise test. The following ECG parameters have been collected: QTe (the interval between the q wave the end of T wave), QTp (the interval between the q wave and the peak of T wave), and Te (the interval between the peak and the end of T wave).ResultsAt baseline, in the hypogonadal patients, corrected QTe and QTp values were longer at rest than in the controls at rest (p < 0.05), whereas, during the recovery phase, only the QTp remained significantly longer (p < 0.05). After TRT, hypogonadal patients showed an improvement only in Te (p < 0.05). Conversely, any difference between hypogonadal patients and control subjects was found with respect to the markers of temporal dispersion of repolarization phases, except for a worse QTp → Te coherence (p = 0.001) obtained during the recovery phase.ConclusionsIn conclusion, at rest, hypogonadal patients suffer from a stable increase in the myocardial repolarization phase without an increase in its temporal dispersion and, hence, the SCD risk seems to be low.

Original publication

DOI

10.1007/s40618-019-01026-5

Type

Journal article

Journal

Journal of endocrinological investigation

Publication Date

09/2019

Volume

42

Pages

1051 - 1065

Addresses

Dipartimento di Scienze Cardiovascolari, Respiratorie, Nefrologiche, Anestesiologiche e Geriatriche, Policlinico Umberto I, "La Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale del Policlinico, 00185, Rome, Italy.

Keywords

Humans, Hypogonadism, Testosterone, Exercise Test, Prognosis, Hormone Replacement Therapy, Case-Control Studies, Follow-Up Studies, Heart Rate, Ventricular Function, Left, Middle Aged, Male, Arrhythmias, Cardiac