Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36264863›Full record

ArticlePloS one2022

The electrical heart axis in fetuses with congenital heart disease, measured with non-invasive fetal electrocardiography.

L Noben, C Lempersz, E R van den Heuvel, Z Zhan, F P H A Vandenbussche, A B C Coumans, M C Haak, R Vullings, S G Oei, S A B Clur and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

L NobenDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Máxima Medical Center, Veldhoven, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-4894-0873
C LemperszDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Máxima Medical Center, Veldhoven, The Netherlands.
E R van den HeuvelDepartment of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Z ZhanDepartment of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
F P H A VandenbusscheDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
A B C CoumansDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
M C HaakDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
R VullingsDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Máxima Medical Center, Veldhoven, The Netherlands.
S G OeiDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Máxima Medical Center, Veldhoven, The Netherlands.
S A B ClurDepartment of Pediatric Cardiology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J O E H van LaarDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Máxima Medical Center, Veldhoven, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo determine if the electrical heart axis in different types of congenital heart defects (CHD) differs from that of a healthy cohort at mid-gestation.

methodsNon-invasive fetal electrocardiography (NI-fECG) was performed in singleton pregnancies with suspected CHD between 16 and 30 weeks of gestation. The mean electrical heart axis (MEHA) was determined from the fetal vectorcardiogram after correction for fetal orientation. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the MEHA with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) in the frontal plane of all fetuses with CHD and the following subgroups: conotruncal anomalies (CTA), atrioventricular septal defects (AVSD) and hypoplastic right heart syndrome (HRHS). The MEHA of the CHD fetuses as well as the subgroups was compared to the healthy control group using a spherically projected multivariate linear regression analysis. Discriminant analysis was applied to calculate the sensitivity and specificity of the electrical heart axis for CHD detection.

resultsThe MEHA was determined in 127 fetuses. The MEHA was 83.0° (95% CI: 6.7°; 159.3°) in the total CHD group, and not significantly different from the control group (122.7° (95% CI: 101.7°; 143.6°). The MEHA was 105.6° (95% CI: 46.8°; 164.4°) in the CTA group (n = 54), -27.4° (95% CI: -118.6°; 63.9°) in the AVSD group (n = 9) and 26.0° (95% CI: -34.1°; 86.1°) in the HRHS group (n = 5). The MEHA of the AVSD and the HRHS subgroups were significantly different from the control group (resp. p = 0.04 and p = 0.02). The sensitivity and specificity of the MEHA for the diagnosis of CHD was 50.6% (95% CI 47.5% - 53.7%) and 60.1% (95% CI 57.1% - 63.1%) respectively.

conclusionThe MEHA alone does not discriminate between healthy fetuses and fetuses with CHD. However, the left-oriented electrical heart axis in fetuses with AVSD and HRHS was significantly different from the control group suggesting altered cardiac conduction along with the structural defect.

trial registrationClinical trial registration number: NL48535.015.14.

Indexed as

Heart Defects, CongenitalHeart Septal DefectsElectrocardiographyFemaleFetal HeartFetusHumansPregnancyUltrasonography, Prenatal

Identifiers

PMID36264863
PMCPMC9584524

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.