ECG analysis in the Italian longitudinal study on aging (ILSA)

A computerized ECG database in the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging project (ILSA, Targeted Project of CNR on Aging) will be described. In this project 5632 patients older than 65 years old, male and female, will be followed up in order to study and to evaluate physiologic and pathologic modifications connected with aging. The data acquisition has been done in 8 centers distributed in the national territory. In the first screening phase (1992), the ECG signal has been acquired and stored with computerized techniques and a second ECG will be acquired in the follow-up phase (1995). In the first phase 2513 ECG have been acquired. The methodologies and the experiences in the management of the database of ECG signals will be described. A population of "normal" old patients have been characterized, and the statistics of some electrocardiographic parameters (P, QRS axis, P-QRS-QT duration and the cardiac frequency) have been reported.