We intended to study the characteristics and distributions of fast ventricular arrhythmias (VA) demonstrated by surface electrocardiograms(ECG) of inpatients that had been hospitalized by the Department of Cardiology of Guangdong General Hospital from Jan 1, 2013 to Dec 31, 2014.

We recorded the quantity and types of fast VA, measured QRS duration of VA(QRS-VA) and baseline QRS durations (QRS-B), analyzed their origins according to related cardiac diseases and 3 age groups.

A total of 19 554 patients were screened.Prevalence of VA was 4.9%.Among these VA, 51.7% originated from ventricular outflow tract (VOT). The QRS-B of non-structural heart diseases was narrower than those of coronary artery diseases, non-ischemic myocardiopathy, congenital heart diseases and valvular diseases (all P values<0.01). The QRS-VA of non-structural heart diseases was narrower than those of other groups except for coronary artery diseases/ischemic myocardiopathy (all P values<0.05). QRS-VA/QRS-B ratio of non-ischemic myocardiopathy was smaller than that of other groups (all P values<0.05). The VA origins of different heart diseases were significantly different (P<0.001). The VAs of structural heart diseases were more like originating from non-VOT sites.The baseline heart diseases and VA distributions in the 3 age groups were significantly different (P<0.001). The older the patient was, the more likely the VAs’ were to be distributed in an on-VOT sites.

The majority of VAs of our inpatients during these 2 years originated from VOT.The QRS-B of non-structural heart diseases were narrower than those of structural heart diseases.The percentage of VA origins from VOT was higher in non-structural heart diseases than those in structural heart diseases.QRS-VA/QRS-B ratio of non-ischemic heart diseases was smaller than that of other groups.

Cross-sectional study; Surface electrocardiogram; Ventricular arrhythmia