The text highlights the implications of exercise-induced QTc prolongation in military service members, noting that a single prolonged QTc warrants further evaluation before diagnosing Long QT syndrome.
Short detraining may avert LQTS misdiagnosis and career loss in service members; extends athlete series but leaves open prospective protocols.
Exercise is often seen as a voluntary activity with physical and mental health benefits. However, for military service members exercise is a required component of military service to ensure service members are prepared to meet the physical demands of their missions.1 The prevalence of corrected QT interval (QTc) prolongation among highly athletic individuals has been shown to be elevated over the general population.2,3,4 An international consensus statement has set the prolonged QTc cut-off as ≥ 470 ms for male athletes and as ≥ 480 ms for female athletes, but they acknowledge that one electrocardiogram (ECG) with a prolonged QTc warrants further evaluation such as repeat ECG, consideration of personal and family history, and in some cases additional cardiac or genetic testing before a diagnosis of Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is made.
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Pagani et al. (2023) studied this question.
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