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. 2003 Apr;8(2):127-31.
doi: 10.1046/j.1542-474x.2003.08206.x.

Heart rate turbulence following ventricular premature beats in healthy controls

Wolfram Grimm  1 , Julia Sharkova, Michael Christ, Raphael Schneider, Georg Schmidt, Bernhard Maisch
Affiliations

Heart rate turbulence following ventricular premature beats in healthy controls

Wolfram Grimm et al. Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol. 2003 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Heart rate turbulence (HRT) has recently been described as a strong, independent risk stratifier in postinfarct patients. To date, however, the incidence of false positive HRT findings in adults is unknown. Therefore, we performed a blinded, retrospective analysis of HRT in a prospectively collected database of 110 apparently healthy persons to determine the prevalence and clinical significance of abnormal HRT findings in healthy controls using previously published cut-off values.

Methods and results: The study included 43 out of 110 apparently healthy adults, in whom a sufficient number of ventricular premature beats were available for HRT analysis on 24-hour Holter recordings. The HRT slope was dichotomized at 2.5 ms per R-R interval and HRT onset was dichotomized at 0% using previously established criteria to define an abnormal HRT analysis in postinfarct patients. Using these definitions, abnormal HRT results were found in 2 out of 43 controls (5%) for HRT slope and in 8 out of 43 controls (19%) for HRT onset without any cardiac deaths during 32 +/- 15 months follow-up.

Conclusions: The incidence of false positive HRT results in healthy middle-aged volunteers is low for HRT slope (5%), but not for HRT onset (19%) when previously published cut-off values are used to define abnormal HRT results. Thus, HRT slope dichotomized at 2.5 ms per R-R interval, but not HRT onset dichotomized at 0%, may be used as a relatively specific tool for risk stratification in middle-aged persons.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relation between heart rate turbulence slope and age (A) and heart rate turbulence onset and age (B) in 43 healthy persons without cardiac events during follow‐up.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Relation between heart rate turbulence slope and age (A) and heart rate turbulence onset and age (B) in 43 healthy persons without cardiac events during follow‐up.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of heart rate turbulence results between healthy men and women stratified for turbulence slope (A) and turbulence onset (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of heart rate turbulence results between healthy men and women stratified for turbulence slope (A) and turbulence onset (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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