P Wave Dispersion in Children with Breath-holding Spells

Abstract

Objective: A breath-holding spell (BHS) is a clinical feature frequently seen in infancy and early childhood and generally bringing children to pediatric cardiology outpatient clinics with the suspicion of cardiac disease. In this study, P wave dispersion (PWD), which is a marker of regional differences in atrial depolarization in electrocardiography and has been demonstrated to be beneficial in defining the risk of supraventricular tachycardia in various patient groups, was studied in children who presented with breath-holding spells. Materials and Methods: Forty-seven patients with breath-holding spells and 36 healthy children as a control group were included in this study. We performed electrocardiography and transthoracic echocardiography on patients and controls. PWD, which is defined as the difference between maximum and minimum p wave duration, was also calculated. Statistical analysis in the study was performed using SPSS version 22.0 and p<0.05 was accepted as significant. Results: Our study indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the patients and controls in minimum, maximum p wave duration and PWD. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that atrial conduction is probably unaffected in children with breath-holding spells.

Keywords

• Breath-holding spells
• electrocardiography
• p wave dispersion
• supraventricular tachycardia