title: Reduced beat-to-beat changes of heart rate: an important risk factor after acute myocardial infarction.
abstract: The prognostic significance of heart rate variability derived from 24-hour electrocardiographic recordings was investigated in 250 patients with acute myocardial infarction. During a follow-up of 6 months 15 patients experienced a serious arrhythmic event. These patients showed a significantly reduced beat to beat variability (p = 0.006), a slightly reduced 5-min variability (p = 0.04) and no significant differences in the 24-hour variability compared to the patients free of arrhythmic events. Based on Cox proportional hazard analysis, beat to beat variability remained an independent risk factor (p = 0.0036) in addition to the presence or absence of ventricular late potentials (p = 0.0004) and history of previous infarction (p = 0.04).
authors.affiliation: Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, Innere Medizin C (Kardiologie u. Angiologie), Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reinhardt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mäkijärvi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fetsch
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martinez-Rubio
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Böcker
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Block
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borggrefe
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Breithardt
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000503:physiopathology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D015996:Survival Rate