Incidence of Arrhythmias in Normal Pregnancy and Relation to Palpitations, Dizziness, and Syncope

Abstract We assessed the relation between symptoms and cardiac arrhythmias in 110 consecutive pregnant patients without evidence of heart disease referred for evaluation of palpitations, dizziness, and syncope (study group) and in 52 consecutive patients referred for evaluation of an asymptomatic functional precordial murmur (control group). Both groups had a high incidence of arrhythmias on Holter monitoring with atrial premature complexes (APCs) of 56% in the study group and 58% in the control group, >100 APCs in 7% and 4% of the patients, respectively, and isolated ventricular premature complexes (VPCs) in 59% and 50%, respectively. The number of isolated VPCs was higher and >50 VPCs/hour were seen in more patients in the study group (3,235 ± 6,397 vs 678 ± 3,358 beats/24 hours p