title: Differences in some circadian patterns of cardiac arrhythmia, myocardial infarctions and other adverse vascular events.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Results from unpublished data on the incidence of adverse vascular events and from several published studies are reevaluated chronobiologically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cosinor methods indicate 1. a circadian variation in the incidence of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PST), of broadly classified ventricular arrhythmia (VAr), and of atrial fibrillation (AF); 2. a statistically significant difference in the timing of the circadian rhythm of PST and VAr versus that of AF; and 3. a further difference in the timing of these rhythms from that in the incidence of myocardial infarctions (MI). Electrocardiographic records for spans longer than 24h show the extent of day-to-day variability in circadian characteristics of the given patient and indicate the presence of even lower-frequency components, notably along the scale of a week, that may underlie weekly and half-weekly patterns of morbidity and mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Beyond alterations in the about 1-Hz periodicity of the heart, predictable changes along the scales of the day and the week may constitute a clue to the etiopathology of a given condition and provide a basis for treatment timing. The assessment of unfavorable changes in the lower frequency components may provide a lead time long enough to prompt the institution of preventive, rather than curative, intervention.
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cornélissen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tarquini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Germanò
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fersini
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rostagno
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Zaslavskaya
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Carandente
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carandente
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Halberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013617:Tachycardia, Supraventricular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology