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Do exercise-associated premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) in adults mean anything? Six authors from Stanford reported a logistic regression evaluation and propensity score-adjusted Cox survival analysis of 1847 heart failure-free patients who underwent clinical treadmill testing over a recent 7-year period in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2008.^[1] Forty-six percent developed exercise PVCs and 34% developed recovery PVCs. Exercise PVCs correlated with tachycardia; recovery PVCs correlated with several indicators of coronary artery heart disease. Nine percent of patients studied died over 5 years. Recovery PVCs, but not exercise PVCs, were associated with an almost doubled propensity-adjusted mortality rate. Yes, PVCs do matter, if they occur during the recovery phase after exercise.

This Medscape Medical Minute is selected from Medscape Best Evidence.^[2] I'm Dr. George Lundberg.

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