1 Babies Hospital, and Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
The electrocardiographic findings in 87 healthy premature infants, ranging in age from 1 day to 1 month, are presented. The data illustrate the problems inherent in establishing "normal" standards in the neonatal period since exceptional figures are encountered for most of the parameters measured. Analyses of time intervals and amplitudes are therefore tabulated by frequency distribution, range and median values.
The general configuration of the electrocardiogram closely resembles that observed in full-term infants of comparable age. In both, the precordial pattern is that of right ventricular preponderance. The electrocardiogram of the premature infants differs chiefly in the lower voltage of all the major complexes in the limb leads.