Follow-up study of the arrhythmic graduates from the schools under the heart disease program for students in Osaka

A long term follow-up study of arrhythmic graduates from junior or senior high schools under the Heart Disease Program in Osaka was performed by mailing questionnaires. The age of the total 515 subjects ranged from 20 to 38 years, 26.9 years on an average. From 397 graduates (77%), answers to questionnaires were obtained. We could confirm 92 graduates were alive (18% of total subjects) among the 118 graduates who did not return their answers to the questionnaires. The following is what we could confirm through the present study: The prognoses of simple premature beats, Wenckebach type heart block and complete right bundle branch block are good in young adults. The prognosis of sick sinus syndrome does not warrant an optimistic prognosis even in young adults. The prognosis of WPW syndrome in young adults is not always fair if they have a history of paroxysmal tachycardia. From 95 to 97% of the graduates with arrhythmia as a whole answered that their daily lives are quite similar to those of healthy people. Attitudes toward daily life and medical checks were also studied.