Ventricular arrhythmias during exercise testing, jogging, and sedentary life: a comparative study of healthy physically active men, healthy sedentary men, and men with previous myocardial infarction.

The occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias during exercise testing, jogging, and sedentary life with and without preceding exercise was studied with the aid of ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring in healthy physically active men, healthy sedentary men, and men with previous myocardial infarction (15 men in each group). Ventricular premature beats of the same grade were found during exercise testing and jogging in ten of the 15 healthy physically active men, in ten of the 15 healthy sedentary men, and in eight of the 15 men with previous myocardial infarction. When unifocal ventricular premature beats were omitted, the corresponding figures were 14/15, 11/15, and 15/15, respectively. Healthy physically active men had less ventricular arrhythmias in all of the tested situations. The greatest number and also the highest grades of ventricular arrhythmias during the exercises were found in healthy sedentary men, whereas the men with previous myocardial infarction had ventricular arrhythmias more during sedentary life.