Competitive athletic training was not associated with increased prevalence or complexity of ventricular arrhythmias, with 86% of both athletes and controls exhibiting ≤10 premature ventricular beats.
Observational (n=694)
Does the prevalence, burden, and morphology of premature ventricular beats differ between healthy competitive athletes and sedentary controls?
Ventricular arrhythmia burden and complexity on 24-hour ECG are similar between healthy athletes and sedentary controls, suggesting that frequent or complex PVBs in athletes should not be dismissed as merely 'training related'.
Absolute Event Rate: 86% vs 86%
AIMS: Premature ventricular beats (PVBs) in athletes are often benign, but sometimes they may be a sign of an underlying disease. We evaluated the prevalence, burden, and morphology of PVBs in healthy voluntary athletes and controls with the main purpose of defining if certain PVB patterns are 'common' and 'training related' and, as such, are more likely benign. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 433 healthy competitive athletes median age 27 (18-43) years, 74% males and 261 age- and sex-matched sedentary subjects who volunteered to undergo 12-lead 24 h ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring (24H ECG), with a training session in athletes. Ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) were evaluated in terms of their number, complexity i.e. couplet, triplet, or non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT), exercise inducibility, and morphology. Eighty-six percent of athletes and controls exhibited a total of ≤10 PVBs/24 h, and >90% did not show any couplets, triplets, or runs of NSVT > 3 beats. An higher number of PVBs correlated with increasing age (P 50 PVBs were the infundibular (44%) and fascicular (22%) ones. In a comparison between athletes and sedentary individuals, and male and female athletes, no statistically significant differences were found in PVBs morphologies. CONCLUSION: The prevalence and complexity of VAs at 24H ECG did not differ between athletes and sedentary controls and were not related to the type and amount of sport or sex. Age was the only variable associated with an increased PVB burden. Thus, no PVB pattern in the athlete can be considered 'common' or 'training related'.
Graziano et al. (Wed,) conducted a observational in Healthy volunteers (Premature ventricular beats) (n=694). Competitive athletic training vs. Sedentary lifestyle was evaluated on Prevalence of ≤10 premature ventricular beats per 24 hours. Competitive athletic training was not associated with increased prevalence or complexity of ventricular arrhythmias, with 86% of both athletes and controls exhibiting ≤10 premature ventricular beats.