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Europace Advance Access originally published online on October 25, 2007
Europace 2007 9(12):1203-1208; doi:10.1093/europace/eum228
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Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2007. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

ELECTROCARDIOLOGY

Electrocardiographic markers of structural heart disease and predictors of death in 2332 unselected patients undergoing outpatient Holter recording

Mark M. Gallagher1,*, Mina Padula1, Marianna Sgueglia1, Luca Santini1, Paolo Voci1, Niall G. Mahon2, Yee Guan Yap3 and Francesco Romeo1

1 Department of Cardiology, Policlinico Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, Rome 00133, Italy; 2 Department of Cardiology, Mater Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; 3 Department of Medicine, University Putra Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Aims: To test the hypothesis that the QS interval of ventricular ectopic beats (VEBs) (ventricular ectopic QS interval, VEQSI) would provide a marker for the presence of structural heart disease and a predictor of mortality.

Methods and results: We interviewed and examined 2332 patients undergoing Holter ECG monitoring for clinical indications. In persons with VEBs, the morphologies were counted and the QS interval was measured for each of these morphologies. The duration of the broadest VEB, measured from the QRS onset in the derivation showing the earliest onset to its end in the derivation showing the latest termination, was taken as that patient's VEQSI. Survival was ascertained from public health records. Of 15 electrocardiographic variables pre-selected as potential prognostic indicators, VEQSI demonstrated the strongest association with the presence of structural heart disease (P = 0.013). Thirty-four persons died in 16 ± 4 months follow-up. Univariate predictors of mortality are age, history of myocardial infarction, maximum heart rate, QS interval, the number of VEB morphologies, and the VEQSI. On multivariate analysis, only age (P < 0.001) and the number of VEB morphologies (P = 0.02) predicted mortality.

Conclusion: VEQSI predicts the presence of structural heart disease. The number of VEB morphologies in a Holter recording predicts all-cause mortality.

Key Words: Risk stratification, Sudden death, Ventricular fibrillation, QRS complex duration, QRS interval, Ventricular ectopic beat, Ventricular premature beat, Heart rate variability, Myocardial infarction

* Corresponding author. Tel: +39 03478993059; fax: +39 0620900382.E-mail address: mark_m_gallagher{at}hotmail.com

Manuscript submitted 30 April 2007. Accepted after revision 14 September 2007.


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