Risks of obesity among Indian adolescents

Abstract

Obesity is connected to a wide range of ECG abnormalities that take place in adolescents leading to risks of Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) mortality and sudden cardiac death. Some of the ECG abnormalities are being caused by the position of the diaphragm being pushed-up as a result of obesity (1). The position of the R wave might change, the QT might be prolonged or various malignant arrhythmias could develop. In obesity, the ECG signals of ventricular hypertrophy tend to be less informative because of the subcutaneous and epicardial adipose tissue. This study revealed that in adolescents, general and abdominal obesity is correlated to long PR intervals, wide duration of QRS, leftward shifts of the frontal P-wave, T-wave and QRS axes, free from the ECG variables like gender, age, blood pressure and ethnicity.