[Time of occurrence of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in Holter monitoring in patients with coronary heart disease and in patients with hypertension].

Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) often accompany coronary heart disease (CHD), and primary hypertension (PH). The aim of the study was to evaluate the time of occurrence and duration of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) identified from Holter recordings in 63 patients (27 women and 36 men) with CHD (n = 45) and PH (n = 18). No pharmacological treatment was applied before and during the examination. All patients were in sinus rhythm at the start and the end of the recording which lasted for 24 hours. PAF were defined as the occurrence of at least four beats of supraventricular origin, with no visible P or flutter waves. The time of onset, duration, ventricular rate and symptoms of each PAF were noted. There were 219 paroxysms recorded in 63 patients which occurred more often by day than by night, the time of duration was 0.9-240 s. Of the total, 16.3% of episodes with CHD and 9.5% episodes in patients with PH occurred between the hours 8:00-10:00 and between 16:00 and 18:00; 9.1% and 21% respectively. We concluded that in patients with CHD and with H most of the episodes (95%) are silent, they occurred more often during the day activity (particularly between the hours of 8:00 and 10:00 and 16:00-18:00 in both groups). In patients with CHD we observed the third peak of occurrence of PAF between the hours 22:00-0:00.