Ter Woort Fe, Dubois Guillaume, Tansley Grace, Didier Marie, Verdegaal Lidwien, Franklin Samantha, Van Erck-Westergren Emmanuelle
Equine Sports Medicine Practice, 83 avenue Beau Sejour, 1410, Waterloo, Belgium.
Arioneo, 6 rue Claude Farrère, 75016, Paris, France.
Equine Vet J. 2022 Feb 9;55(2):336-43. doi: 10.1111/evj.13565.
Cardiac arrhythmias in exercising horses are the focus of much interest, both in terms of what is considered normal and potential associations with poor performance and sudden cardiac death. One barrier to performing large-scale studies is the lack of an easily applicable device, to allow recording of large numbers of high-quality exercising electrocardiograms (ECGs). The Equimetre is a new wearable device which records a single lead ECG, amongst other parameters. Validation of such wearable devices is essential before further studies are undertaken.
To evaluate the quality of ECG using the Equimetre and compare arrhythmia detection during exercise with the reference Televet system.
Prospective blinded clinical study.
Simultaneous ECGs were recorded with both systems in 49 healthy horses during exercise. High intensity exercise (>40km/h) was performed by 29 racehorses, and lower intensity exercise for the remainder of the racehorses and show jumpers. Tracings were excluded if >10% artefact was present (duration of artefact relative to duration of exercise). For included ECGs, the duration of artefact was recorded and compared. ECGs were evaluated using Kubios premium software. Arrhythmia detection (yes/no) and arrhythmia classification (sinus arrhythmia, narrow complex of similar morphology to the sinus complexes or wide complex with a different morphology) were compared using Cohen's Kappa coefficient.
Nine Televet ECGs and 3 Equimetre ECGs were excluded due to artefact >10%. Televet ECGs included significantly more artefact during exercise than Equimetre ECGs (5% vs. 0.25% p<0.001). Arrhythmia analysis was performed on 38 horses' paired ECGs. The Kappa coefficient was excellent for arrhythmia detection (K=0.97) and arrhythmia classification (K=0.93).
Relatively low numbers of horses with arrhythmias (n=21) were included. The ECG recordings only provided one lead, making arrhythmia classification challenging in some cases.
The Equimetre device provides a reliable ECG for arrhythmia detection during exercise. This system may be useful clinically and for future large-scale investigations into the occurrence and significance of exercising arrhythmias.
运动马匹的心律失常备受关注，涉及正常情况以及与运动表现不佳和心源性猝死的潜在关联。进行大规模研究的一个障碍是缺乏一种易于应用的设备，以便记录大量高质量的运动心电图（ECG）。Equimetre是一种新型可穿戴设备，除其他参数外，还可记录单导联心电图。在进行进一步研究之前，对此类可穿戴设备进行验证至关重要。
使用Equimetre评估心电图质量，并将运动期间的心律失常检测结果与参考Televet系统进行比较。
前瞻性盲法临床研究。
在49匹健康马匹运动期间，使用这两种系统同时记录心电图。29匹赛马进行高强度运动（>40km/h），其余赛马和场地障碍赛马匹进行低强度运动。如果伪差超过10%（伪差持续时间相对于运动持续时间），则排除该记录。对于纳入的心电图，记录并比较伪差持续时间。使用Kubios高级软件评估心电图。使用Cohen's Kappa系数比较心律失常检测（是/否）和心律失常分类（窦性心律失常、形态与窦性复合体相似的窄QRS波群或形态不同的宽QRS波群）。
由于伪差>10%，排除了9份Televet心电图和3份Equimetre心电图。Televet心电图在运动期间的伪差明显多于Equimetre心电图（5%对0.25%，p<0.001）。对38匹马的配对心电图进行了心律失常分析。心律失常检测的Kappa系数极佳（K=0.97），心律失常分类的Kappa系数也极佳（K=0.93）。
纳入的心律失常马匹数量相对较少（n=21）。心电图记录仅提供一个导联，在某些情况下使心律失常分类具有挑战性。
Equimetre设备可为运动期间的心律失常检测提供可靠的心电图。该系统在临床上以及未来对运动性心律失常的发生和意义进行大规模研究中可能有用。
