Cardiac arrhythmias and atrioventricular block in a cohort of asymptomatic individuals without heart disease.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate cardiac arrhythmias and rhythm disturbances on 24 h ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring in a cohort of asymptomatic healthy individuals with normal clinical examination.


RESULTS
625 asymptomatic healthy individuals, in the age range 15-83 (mean 42, SD 11.9) years; 276 (44.2%) men and 349 (55.8%) women were submitted to 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring. Statistical analysis was performed with likelihood ratio test and automatic backward logistic regression. The frequency of atrial arrhythmias (p < 0.0001; OR 1.059; 95% CI 1.050-1068) and of ventricular arrhythmias (p < 0.0001; OR 1.023; 95% CI 1.017-1.029) increased for each age increase of 1 year; neither atrial nor ventricular arrhythmias demonstrated a statistically significant difference relative to gender. Transient second-degree atrioventricular block (Mobitz I) was observed in 14 (2.2%) individuals and was more frequent in individuals with resting heart rate <60 bpm (p = 0.006; OR 6.7, 95% CI 1.7-25.5).


CONCLUSIONS
The frequency of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias increased with age and did not demonstrate a significant difference relative to gender. Transient atrioventricular block was more frequent in individuals with lower resting heart rate.
DePaula
Rogério Silva
RS
Heart Institute (InCor), University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. casrspaula@incor.usp.br
Antelmi
Ivana
I
Vincenzi
Marcos Antonio
MA
André
Carmen D S
CD
Artes
Rinaldo
R
Grupi
César José
CJ
Mansur
Alfredo José
AJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016275:Atrial Function / Q000502:physiology; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D006327:Heart Block / Q000453:epidemiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016276:Ventricular Function / Q000502:physiology