PR Interval in middle‐aged men with overt and latent coronary heart disease compared to PR in angionegative and normal men of similar age

Abstract

Summary: PR was measured prospectively in 20 I4 apparently healthy men ranging in age from 40 to 59 years (P subjects), and retrospectively in 652 hospitalized men with a diagnosis of coronary heart disease (CHD) (R subjects). A cardiovascular survey examination suggested CHD in 115 of the 2014 P subjects, coronary angiography of 105 of these confirmed this suspicion in 69. The following observations concerning PR were made: ( I ) the shortest PR was found in angiopositive P subjects, intermediate PR in 1832 normal P subjects, and PR was longest in 36 angionegative subjects. (2) PR was shortest in angiopositive P subjects with triple-vessel disease, and longest in P subjects with single-vessel disease. (3) PR increased with age, and an inverse association was found between PR and resting heart rate in P-subjects. (4) In 98 of 1832 normal P subjects, all without signs or symptoms of heart disease, PR was 20.22 s. (5) Prolonged PR was no more frequent among the 652 R subjects than among P subjects, despite significant CHD in 595, and a frequent use of drugs known to delay atrioventricular conduction. It is suggested that advanced stable clinical CHD only rarely gives rise to prolonged PR at rest, and that PR in subjects with latent CHD may have somewhat shorter PR than age counterparts without symptoms or signs of CHD. Conflicting data in the literature are probably related to differences in material and methods.