Early repolarization is independently associated with African-American race, younger age, higher BMI and lower heart rate.

Background: Early repolarization (ER) is commonly seen in young adults. The goal of this study was to evaluate predictors of ER. Method: The authors used ECGs, available from 636 subjects, performed on healthy students for screening purposes. Results: The prevalence of ER was 13.5%. The prevalence of ER was higher in African-American subjects (48.0% vs 10.8%; odds ratio: 5.9; CI: 3.5-9.7; p < 0.0001), those with a BMI >25 (18.6% vs 11.7%; p = 0.02), those age <30 (16.4% vs 2.0%; p < 0.0001), male subjects (17.1% vs 8.3%; p = 0.001) and those with heart rate <70 (18.2% vs 9.2%; p = 0.001). With multivariate analysis, except gender, all other parameters remained significantly correlating with ER. Conclusion: The authors found younger age, African-American race, higher BMI and lower heart rate to be predictors of ER.