The incidence of premature contractions in coronary patients during the sleep-awake cycle.
Mean heart rates and their variability indices during REM sleep and the frequency of cardiac arrhythmias during the sleep-awake cycle were determined in a group of coronary patients with disturbances of cardiac rhythm. In some patients there was a temporal relationship of atrial and ventricular premature contractions with slow-wave sleep, REM sleep or wakefulness. However, when they were considered as a group, no significant correlation could be observed. Furthermore, the sinus arrhythmia characteristic of REM sleep was not found to be exaggerated in those patients.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D012895:Sleep, REM