Predictive value of premature ventricular contractions on the resting electrocardiogram for ventricular arrhythmias on 24 hour monitoring in asymptomatic young adults.

Between the years 1981-1984, 89 air-personnel, ages 18-45 years, underwent 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitoring at the Israel Air Force Aeromedical Center due to an incidental finding of one or more premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) on the resting supine 12-lead ECG. Complex ectopic arrhythmias (bigemini, trigemini, couplets, ventricular tachycardia, R on T phenomenon, or multifocal patterns) were observed during monitoring in 1.4% of 138 control subjects without PVCs, in 22% of those with 1 to 3 PVC X min-1 and in 68% of those with 4 or more PVC X min-1 on the resting ECG. Altogether 39(44%) of the 89 subjects with PVCs on the resting ECG had complex ectopic rhythms on monitoring. Of the 43 subjects with available follow-up data, 3 (7%) reported bouts of dizziness and light headedness which coincided with complex ectopic rhythms. In one of these three subjects, the bouts of dizziness coincided with runs of ventricular tachycardia during exercise testing.