Ventricular premature beats. Reliability in various measurement methods at rest and during exercise.
The yield and reproducibility of various methods of ventricular premature beat (VPB) detection are examined in otherwise healthy middle-aged men first found to have VPB in a 2-min lead I ECG rhythm strip. With a combination of an isometric and treadmill exercise test, VPB were repeatedly detected in 83%. Test-retest reliability in classifying the subjects by frequency of VPB was 67%. The reliability of detecting complex VPB was 47% for multiform VPB, 35% for pairs of VPB, 17% for runs and 36% for VPB showing the R-on-T phenomenon. These data suggest that simple and complex VPB detected by the described methods among normal men are poorly reproducible in the individual. Taking the VPB reproducibility for the group as a whole, the proportion of subjects having different frequency or kinds of ectopic beats is reasonably stable for the different test occasions.
D000328:Adult; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005080:Exercise Test; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged