Incidence of premature ventricular contractions in patients with cardiovascular diseases risk factors

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Aim of the study To establish the incidence of premature ventricular contractions among individuals with high and very high risk of cardiovascular diseases. Materials and methods During the period between 2007-2013 a total of 4,214 individuals were examined, age ranged from 35 to 85 years. Each individual underwent 24-hour Holter monitoring. All participants of the study were divided into groups: 1-st - patients with coronary artery disease (mainly stable angina), but without accompanying risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, such as smoking and obesity (n=234); 2nd group - people who smoked 5 or more cigarettes per day for more than 2 years (n=144); 3rd group - obese people without concomitant coronary artery disease and arterial hypertension (n=197); 4th group - people with obesity and hypertension (n=187). The control group included 149 practically healthy people. The groups were statistically homogenic in age and gender. The incidence of premature ventricular contractions in was following according to V. Lown and M. Wolf classification: the 1st group – I - 16 (6,83%), II - 23 (9,82%), III - 2 (0,85%), IV - 13 (5,55%), V - 18 (7,69%); the 2nd group - 14 (9,72%), II – 10 (6,95%), III - 5 (3,47%), IV - 28 (19,44%), V - 13 (9,02%); the 3rd - I - 1 (7,61%), II - 6 (3,04%), III - 3 (1,52%), IV - 21 (10,65%), V - 13 (6,6%), the 4th - I - 22 (11,76%), II - 13 (6,95%), III - 2 (1,07%), IV - 24 (12,83%), V - 8 (4,27%). The lowest incidence of this arrhythmia was observed among patients with stable angina - 30,34%. This can be explained by patients being more thoroughly supervised by doctors and higher compliance for treatment. Another reason was that groups 2-4 included people with only risk factors, and group 1 - people with the coronary artery disease. Among obese people with and without hypertension, the incidence of this arrhythmia was almost the same – 35,1% and 36,7%, respectively, and was not significantly different from control group (33,6%). Therefore, analyzing the data presented above, we established that people who smoke tobacco have higher incidence of ventricular premature contractions than in healthy individuals and people with obesity and hypertension. There was observed no statistically significant difference in the incidence of ventricular premature contractions in individuals with isolated obesity or obesity concomitant with arterial hypertension.