QRS slurring and notching in a healthy population

“Early repolarisation” has generally been considered benign until recently when it has been associated with life threatening arrhythmias. Because there has been confusion around defining J point elevation in relation to early repolarisation, this study examined ECGs recorded from an apparently healthy adult Caucasian cohort of males and females. As first step, the prevalence of end QRS notching, end QRS slurring and a mixture of both was determined essentially using visual techniques. It was found that almost 29%. of the cohort fell into one or other of these three categories. It is suggested that an internationally agreed definition of what is currently termed “early repolarisation” is required in order to facilitate further studies in this area.