Arrhythmias and conduction disturbanceVentricular Arrhythmias and Risk of Death and Acute Myocardial Infarction in Apparently Healthy Subjects of Age ≥55 Years
Section snippets
Methods
This study is part of the Copenhagen Holter study, which aimed to address the value of 48-hour Holter recording in risk assessment in middle-aged and elderly men and women with no apparent heart disease, especially in relation to other risk factors. Details of the study population and methods have been previously published.6, 7 In summary, in 2 well-defined regions of Copenhagen, all men aged 55 years and all men and women aged 60, 65, 70, and 75 years received a questionnaire (n = 2,969)
Results
The baseline characteristics of the participants of this study are listed in Table 1. The mean successful ECG recording time was 42.8 ± 4.9 hours. Only 9 subjects (1.3%) had recording times <24 hours. The minimum and maximum recording times were 17.2 and 49.2 hours. In total, 29,032 hours of ECG monitoring were performed. The median follow-up time was 53 months (interquartile range 51 to 55). During this time, 66 events (54 deaths and 12 AMIs) were recorded: 23 in 281 women (8.2%) and 43 in 397
Discussion
In this study, we demonstrated that middle-aged and elderly subjects with no apparent cardiac disease and increased ventricular ectopic activity of ≥30 VPCs/hour are at a >2.5-fold increased risk for death and AMI over 5 years. This was mostly evident in men and subjects with Framingham risk scores greater than average. We detected this kind of arrhythmia in 9% of all men (35 of 397), and 25% of all events occurred in this small group. The increased risk remained significant after correction
Acknowledgment
We wish to thank laboratory technician Kirsten Andersen, BS, for her helpfulness and excellent assistance.
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This study was supported by grants from the Danish Heart Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark.