Gender modulates the aging effects on different patterns of early repolarization

Distinct patterns of early repolarization (ER) are associated with ventricular fibrillation and arrhythmic death. We evaluated whether gender modulated the aging effects on different ER patterns. We studied manifestations of ER in the anterior, inferior, and lateral leads on standard 12-lead electrocardiography from male (n = 1077) and female (n = 1170) individuals of young (≤44 years), middle-aged (45–64 years), and elderly (≥65 years) subjects. Among a total of 2247 individuals, 543 (24.2 %) subjects had ER and 417 (18.6 %) had single-location ER. Single-location ER occurred less in lateral leads than in anterior or inferior leads (2.1, 7.8, 8.6 %, respectively, p < 0.05). Subjects with inferior ER (n = 193) were older (61 ± 14, 49 ± 14, 54 ± 16 years, respectively, p < 0.05) than those with anterior (n = 176) or lateral (n = 48) ER. In males with ER, the elderly group (n = 22) had fewer instances of anterior ER (34, 59, 80 %, respectively, p < 0.05) than middle-aged (n = 76) or young (n = 59) groups. Elderly males (n = 37) and females (n = 48) had greater instances of inferior ER (57, 32, 19 %, p < 0.05; 86, 62, 46 %, respectively, p < 0.05) than middle-aged males (n = 41) and females (n = 41), and young males (n = 14) and females (n = 12), respectively. In conclusion, gender modulates the aging effects on the occurrences of anterior ER and inferior ER.