Explainable advanced electrocardiography heart age shows good reproducibility in healthy young adults

Aims: Explainable advanced electrocardiography (A-ECG) can be used to estimate heart age from the standard 12-lead ECG. A-ECG heart age gap (HAG) represents the difference between A-ECG heart age and chronological age. Increased A-ECG HAG is associated with cardiovascular outcomes and can be used to communicate risk. The aim was to investigate whether A-ECG heart age demonstrates acceptable within- and between-session reproducibility. Methods: Healthy adults (n=42, age 23±4 years, 52% male) attended up to two sessions ~14 days apart, with 36 participants completing both sessions. During each session, five standard resting 12-lead ECGs were obtained while lying in the supineposition with unchanged electrode positions. A-ECG heart age was extracted using dedicated software. Within-session reproducibility was assessed using all five recorded ECGs with coefficient of variation (CV) and a two-way random effects intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Between-session reproducibility was assessed using the first recorded ECG of each session with a paired t-test, CV and ICC. A further analysis assessed the reproducibility of the parameters used in the A-ECG heart age regression model. Results: A-ECG heart age showed excellent within-session reproducibility in session one and two (both CV 5.8%, ICC 0.99). A-ECG heart age was slightly lower in session one than two (24.0±7.5 vs. 25.5±7.8 years, p=0.04) and showed good between session reproducibility (CV 8.3%, ICC 0.84). All but one parameter used to estimate A-ECG heart age showed acceptable within- and between-session reproducibility (CV<10%). Conclusion: A-ECG heart age demonstrates excellent within-session reproducibility and good between-session reproducibility in healthy young adults.