Ventricular ectopy in cardiac rehabilitation patients on exercise training and nonexercising days

We evaluated the effect of routine exercise training sessions on the frequency of ventricular ectopic activity (VEA) in 18 coronary artery disease patients (mean age = 60 years) who were active participants in a cardiac rehabilitation program. Nine patients were classified as high risk and nine patients were low risk according to clinical status and cardiac catheterization criteria. Five patients in each group were on beta blockade, but none were on antiarrhythmic agents. Serial 24-h ECG monitoring was obtained on a routine supervised exercise day and nonexercise control day. VEA were compared during three time periods: (1) exercise training and recovery (4 h) and the corresponding 4 h during control, (2) activities of daily living (12 h), and (3) sleep (8 h). Both groups showed a moderate increase in total VEA during the three activity periods from control day to exercise day. However, this increase was only significant (p less than 0.05) in the high-risk group during the 12-h activity of daily living period postexercise. VEA was significantly greater (p less than 0.05) in the high-risk group during all activity intervals except the sleep period on the exercise day. We conclude that VEA occurs with similar frequency during exercise training or corresponding control periods. High-risk patients have significantly greater VEA on exercise and control days and show additional increased in VEA during activities of daily living (eating and driving) on exercise days.