TY - JOUR
T1 - Frequency of cardiac arrhythmias in older adults
T2 - Findings from the Subclinical Atrial Fibrillation and Risk of Ischemic Stroke (SAFARIS) study
AU - Mannina, Carlo
AU - Jin, Zhezhen
AU - Matsumoto, Kenji
AU - Ito, Kazato
AU - Biviano, Angelo
AU - Elkind, Mitchell S.V.
AU - Rundek, Tatjana
AU - Homma, Shunichi
AU - Sacco, Ralph L.
AU - Di Tullio, Marco R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (grant R01 NS083784 to Dr. Di Tullio and R01 NS29993 to Drs. Sacco and Elkind).
Funding Information:
Dr. Elkind reports receiving study drug in kind from the BMS-Pfizer Alliance for Eliquis and ancillary funding from Roche for the NIH-funded ARCADIA trial of apixaban vs aspirin for stroke prevention; and Dr. Elkind's institution, Columbia University, received payments through a service agreement for his participation in analyses of study data. Dr. Elkind received no personal compensation for any of these activities. Dr. Homma reports being a consultant for St. Jude Medical, Daiichi-Sankyo, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Pfizer. Dr. Sacco has received research grants from NINDS, NCATS, AHA, Evelyn McKnight Brain Foundation and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Background: Prolonged monitoring of cardiac rhythm has been used to screen for subclinical atrial fibrillation (AF); little is known about other arrhythmias in the general population, especially in the elderly, who are at higher risk of arrhythmias. Methods: We evaluated the frequency of arrhythmias in the tri-ethnic (white, Black, Hispanic), community-based Subclinical Atrial Fibrillation and Risk of Ischemic Stroke (SAFARIS) study using a patch-based recorder for up to 14 days in 527 participants free of AF, congestive heart failure (CHF) or history of stroke. Differences according to gender, age, ethnicity and presence of hypertension, diabetes and pertinent ECG and echocardiographic variables were examined. Results: Mean age was 77.2 ± 6.8 years (37.2% men, 62.8% women). AF was present in 10 participants (1.9%), only 2 of them symptomatic. Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) and ventricular tachycardia (VT) episodes were observed in 84.4% and 25.0% but only 13.5% and 10.6% of participants reported symptoms, respectively. Severe bradycardia (<40 bpm) was present in 12.5%. Sinus pauses and high-degree atrioventricular blocks were infrequent (2.1% and 1.5%, respectively). Most arrhythmias were more frequent in participants > 75 years; ventricular arrhythmias and severe bradycardia were more common in men. Whites had significantly more episodes of AF than Hispanics, SVT than Blacks and VT ≥ 10 beats than Hispanics and Blacks. Hypertensives had more episodes of severe bradycardia. LV hypertrophy or LVEF <55% were associated with more frequent ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias. Conclusions: Prolonged cardiac rhythm monitoring revealed moderate frequency of AF, but higher than expected frequencies of AF-predisposing arrhythmias. Ventricular arrhythmias were relatively frequent, whereas severe bradyarrhythmias were infrequent.
AB - Background: Prolonged monitoring of cardiac rhythm has been used to screen for subclinical atrial fibrillation (AF); little is known about other arrhythmias in the general population, especially in the elderly, who are at higher risk of arrhythmias. Methods: We evaluated the frequency of arrhythmias in the tri-ethnic (white, Black, Hispanic), community-based Subclinical Atrial Fibrillation and Risk of Ischemic Stroke (SAFARIS) study using a patch-based recorder for up to 14 days in 527 participants free of AF, congestive heart failure (CHF) or history of stroke. Differences according to gender, age, ethnicity and presence of hypertension, diabetes and pertinent ECG and echocardiographic variables were examined. Results: Mean age was 77.2 ± 6.8 years (37.2% men, 62.8% women). AF was present in 10 participants (1.9%), only 2 of them symptomatic. Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) and ventricular tachycardia (VT) episodes were observed in 84.4% and 25.0% but only 13.5% and 10.6% of participants reported symptoms, respectively. Severe bradycardia (<40 bpm) was present in 12.5%. Sinus pauses and high-degree atrioventricular blocks were infrequent (2.1% and 1.5%, respectively). Most arrhythmias were more frequent in participants > 75 years; ventricular arrhythmias and severe bradycardia were more common in men. Whites had significantly more episodes of AF than Hispanics, SVT than Blacks and VT ≥ 10 beats than Hispanics and Blacks. Hypertensives had more episodes of severe bradycardia. LV hypertrophy or LVEF <55% were associated with more frequent ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias. Conclusions: Prolonged cardiac rhythm monitoring revealed moderate frequency of AF, but higher than expected frequencies of AF-predisposing arrhythmias. Ventricular arrhythmias were relatively frequent, whereas severe bradyarrhythmias were infrequent.
KW - Atrial fibrillation
KW - Bradycardia
KW - Cardiac arrhythmias
KW - Cardiac complexes
KW - Electrocardiography
KW - Premature
KW - Tachycardia
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijcard.2021.05.006
DO - 10.1016/j.ijcard.2021.05.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 33965468
AN - SCOPUS:85105864261
JO - International Journal of Cardiology
JF - International Journal of Cardiology
SN - 0167-5273
ER -