Twenty-four-hour electrocardiography in a healthy elderly population.

Twenty-four hour electrocardiography was performed in fifteen 73-year-old and seventeen 82-year-old subjects without known cardiovascular disease. They were selected from a representative population of elderly people. All subjects showed supraventricular premature beats. Supraventricular tachycardia was seen in 63%. Eighty-four percent showed ventricular premature beats (VPBs), and more than two VPB configuration types were seen in 23% of the subjects. Episodes of intermittent atrial flutter and fibrillation, higher-degree atrioventricular blocks and ventricular tachycardia were absent or rare.