Multicentre, cross-sectional study of ventricular arrhythmias in chronically haemodialysed patients

127 patients on ambulatory in-hospital haemodialysis (HD) were randomly selected from 13 centres. The prevalence of ischaemic heart disease was 14%, 17% had left ventricular dysfunction, and 37% had left ventricular hypertrophy. Ventricular arrhythmias, assessed by continuous 48 h Holter monitoring, were present in 76% of patients. 29% had ≥2 premature ventricular complexes (PVC)/h; 21% had Lown classes 4A or B; and 6% had ≥3 consecutive beats of ventricular tachycardia. Risk factors for ventricular arrhythmias were age ≥55 yr and left ventricular dysfunction, independent of age. The frequency of ventricular arrhythmias rose significantly during the third hour of HD, and this effect lasted for at least 5 h after dialysis, and was associated with age ≥55 yr, left ventricular dysfunction, and the presence of ventricular arrhythmias before dialysis. Ventricular arrhythmias are present in a large proportion of patients with end-stage renal failure and HD has an arrhythmogenic effect.