Alternate electrocardiogram acquisition with fewer leads lacks systematic evaluation in children. This study aims to determine if electrocardiograms with fewer leads maintain diagnostic accuracy in paediatrics.

This is a single-centre review of 200 randomly selected standard 12-lead electrocardiograms from our hospital database (2017–2020) for patients aged 2 weeks to 21 years. An overlay technique generated 8-lead (limb + V1/V6) and 6-lead (limb only) variations of the 12-lead tracings, resulting in a total of 600 electrocardiograms, which were then interpreted by two independent paediatric electrophysiologists.

In total, 18% (35/200) of the baseline electrocardiograms were abnormal. Intervals were measured in lead II for all electrocardiograms. Comparing 12-lead to 6- and 8-lead electrocardiograms, there was almost perfect agreement for specific rhythm identification (97.5–100%, κ 0.85-1). The 8-lead showed substantial agreement with 12-lead electrocardiograms when identifying specific electrocardiogram patterns (97.5–100%, κ 0.66–1). A similar degree of agreement was not demonstrated with the 6-lead variant. Utilising the 12-lead electrocardiogram as the gold standard, sensitivity and specificity of the 8- and 6-lead electrocardiogram were > 89% for specific rhythm identification. Specificity for specific pattern recognition was > 99% while sensitivity was < 90% for certain variables for both 6- and 8-lead electrocardiogram, likely due to smaller sample size and fewer abnormal electrocardiograms. There was high percent reader agreement (92.5–100%).

8-lead electrocardiograms provide comparable diagnostic accuracy to 12-lead electrocardiograms for children. This information holds potential for future technological advancements in electrocardiogram acquisition tailored specifically for paediatrics. Additional studies are required to further refine conventional electrocardiogram acquisition.