Determination of Factors Influencing the Activities of PR Interval on the Electrocardiogram (ECG) in an Experiment of the Factorial Type

Abstract

Human heart is a strong muscle that pumps blood to the body. A normal, healthy adult heart is about the size of human clenched fist and it is like an engine that makes a car works, moves and functions properly as such, the heart keeps the body running. A healthy heart supplies the body with just the right amount of blood at the right rate for whatever the body is doing at that time. The flow of blood to the heart could be reduced by plaque build-up or blockage by a plaque suddenly ruptures, these could cause angina (chest pain or discomfort) or a heart attack. When the heart muscle does not get enough oxygen and blood nutrients, the heart muscle cells will die (heart attack) and weaken the heart, diminishing its ability to pump blood to the rest of the body. Remark that, if one is observing some unusual feeling in the heart, chest or in some related areas, this could result to carrying out an Electrocardiogram (ECG) test or examination. In this study, six factors (Sex, Weight, Height, Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP), Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) and Heart Rate (HR)) were considered and investigated using factorial experiments to see those main effect(s) and interaction effect(s) that are significant in determining the activities of PR-interval in Electrocardiogram examination. The effect of Sex is the most significant of all the treatment effects considered, followed by the effects of Height and HR, while other factors were shown to have very little effect. Hence, it could be concluded that Sex, Height and HR are the most important factors influencing PR Interval in the ECG examination in order to evaluate the metabolic disorders, effects and side effects of pharmacotherapy, and the evaluation of primary and secondary cardiomyopathic processes, among others.