[Long-term study of disorders of heart rhythm in patients with chronic diseases of the respiratory system].
The authors investigated the incidence of arrhythmias by the method of continuous recording of ECG tracings according to Holter in 16 patients with chronic respiratory diseases three times in the course of two years. The incidence of arrhythmias was very frequent, more serious disorders (class 3 or a higher class according to Lown's classification) were very rare. The authors provided evidence of a great variability in the incidence of arrhythmias in the same patients during different periods of investigation. They did not reveal a relationship between the incidence of arrhythmias and the degree of functional affection of the lungs, the severity of hypoxaemia and the drop of the maximum aerobic capacity of the lungs. They did not find a relationship between the incidence of arrhythmias and the pressure in the pulmonary artery, or the size of the right or left ventricle or the thickness of their wall. The authors do not consider the finding of arrhythmias in patients with chronic lung disease an unequivocally serious finding, as reported sometimes in the literature.