Echocardiographically determined left ventricular structural and functional correlates of complex or frequent ventricular arrhythmias on one-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring

Abstract The associations between 6 echocardtographic measurements and ventricular arrhythmias on 1-hour ambulatory electrocardiograms were evaluated in 3,348 subjects of the Framingham Heart Study who were free of symptomatic coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure and valvular heart disease and were not receiving diuretic drugs or other blood pressure or cardiac medications. Age-adjusted estimates of association between echocardiographic measurements of left ventricular (LV) structure and function and complex or frequent (Lown grade 2 or greater) ventricular arrhythmia were computed using logistic regression. In this bivariate model only LV internal diameter (systolic and diastolic) and fractional shortening were associated with arrhythmia in both sexes (p