AMBULATORY ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC MONITORING IN HEALTHY NEWBORN-INFANTS

Twenty-four hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring is a usefu l method to document dysrhythmias and to assess treatment response. Va rious studies have been done in the pediatric age-group to determine n ormal heart rate values.In this study we determined the heart rate and rhythm patterns of 25 healthy newborn infants whose ages ranged betwe en 3-10 days (mean 6.5 days). There were 15 males and 10 females. The maximum heart rate in these infants was 175-231 beats/min (207 +/- 14) , minimum heart rate 60-121 beats/min (93 +/- 16) and the average hear t rate was 130-161 beats/min (143 +/- 9). Five infants 120%) demonstra ted marked sinus dysrhytmia, seven infants (28%) had ventricular prema ture contractions, two infants (8%) had supraventricular premature con tractions, and five infants (20%) showed junctional rhythm disturbance . The sinus pause did not exceed 1.2 sec and there was no evidence of atrioventricular conduction disorders, or supraventricular-ventricular tachycardia attacks. Our results were consistent with previous studie s carried out in newborn infants. Dysyhythmias were detected during 24 -hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring in our study group. S ince they were generally benign, they need no treatment.