The Burden of Ventricular Premature Complex Is Associated With Cardiovascular Mortality

BACKGROUND: Ventricular premature complex (VPC) is one of the most common ventricular arrhythmias. The presence of VPC is associated with an increased risk of heart failure (HF). METHOD: We designed a single-center, retrospective, and large population-based cohort to clarify the role of VPC burden in long-term prognosis in Taiwan. We analyzed the database from the National Cheng Kung University Hospital-Electronic Medical Record (NCKUH-EMR) and NCKUH-Holter (NCKUH-Holter). A total of 19,527 patients who underwent 24-h Holter ECG monitoring due to palpitation, syncope, and clinical suspicion of arrhythmias were enrolled in this study. RESULTS: The clinical outcome of interests involved 5.65% noncardiovascular death and 1.53% cardiovascular-specific deaths between 2011 and 2018. Multivariate Cox regression analysis, Fine and Gray's competing risk model, and propensity score matching demonstrated that both moderate (1,000–10,000/day) and high (>10,000/day) VPC burdens contributed to cardiovascular death in comparison with a low VPC burden (<1,000/day). CONCLUSION: A higher VPC burden via Holter ECG is an independent risk factor of cardiovascular mortality.