Low Atrial Rhythm in a Large Cohort of Children from Transylvania, Romania
Anne-Kathrin Henckell,
Gabriel Gusetu,
Radu Rosu,
Dana Mihaela Ciobanu,
Sabina Istratoaie,
Lucian Muresan,
Cecilia Lazea,
Dana Pop,
Gabriel Cismaru,
Cristian Bârsu,
Stefan Lucian Popa,
Alina Gabriela Negru,
Andrei Cismaru,
Dumitru Zdrenghea,
Simona Sorana Cainap
Affiliations
Anne-Kathrin Henckell
5th Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Rehabilitation, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Gabriel Gusetu
5th Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Rehabilitation, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Radu Rosu
5th Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Rehabilitation, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Dana Mihaela Ciobanu
Department of Diabetes and Nutrition Diseases, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Sabina Istratoaie
Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Lucian Muresan
Cardiology Department, Emile Muller Hospital, 68100 Mulhouse, France
Cecilia Lazea
Department of Pediatrics I, Emergency Clinic Hospital for Children, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Dana Pop
5th Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Rehabilitation, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Gabriel Cismaru
5th Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Rehabilitation, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Cristian Bârsu
Department of Abilities—Humanistic Sciences, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Stefan Lucian Popa
5th Department of Internal Medicine, Medical Clinic No 2, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Alina Gabriela Negru
Department of Cardiology, Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Timisoara, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Andrei Cismaru
Research Center for Functional Genomics, Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Dumitru Zdrenghea
5th Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Rehabilitation, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Simona Sorana Cainap
Department of Pediatrics II, Emergency Clinic Hospital for Children, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Low atrial rhythm (LAR) is an ectopic rhythm originating in the lower part of the right or left atrium. Prior observational studies attempted to quantify the prevalence of low atrial rhythm in the pediatric population, but the observed prevalence was highly variable with relatively small sample sizes. We aimed to characterize low atrial rhythm and determine its prevalence in a large population of 24,316 asymptomatic children from northwestern Transylvania. We found a prevalence of 0.6% (145 children) for low atrial rhythm. Children with LAR had a significantly lower heart rate (mean 78.6 ± 8.3 bpm), than the control sinus rhythm group (85.02 ± 4.5 bpm). Furthermore, a shorter PR interval was seen in children with LAR (132.7 ± 12.7 ms) than in the children from the control group (141.7 ± 5.4; p = 0.0001).There was no significant association between gender and the presence of left LAR (LLAR) or right LAR (RLAR) (p = 0.5876). The heart rate of children with LLAR was significantly higher (81.7 ± 11.6 bpm) than that of the children with LRAR (77.6 ± 11.1 bpm) (p = 0.037). Pediatric cardiologists should recognize low atrial rhythm and be aware that asymptomatic, healthy children can exhibit this pattern, which does not require therapeutic intervention.
