Figure legends
Figure 1: ECG example of 2 patients with new arrhythmias .
(A) and (B) ECG of a 33-year-old patient. On 8:22 the ECG shows normal sinus rhythm with heart rate of 90 beats per minute (bpm) (A). Ninty minutes later while awake and with low O2 saturation he developed extreme sinus bradycardia with ventricular escape (B). ECG done a few hours later (not shown) demonstrated return of sinus at 90 bpm. (C) ECG during sinus rhythm of 78 bpm showing RBBB of a patient who later exhibited VT storm. (D) ECG a day later showed sinus rhythm and ventricular bigeminy. Few hours later the patient developed VT storm. (see text for further discussion on both patients).
Figure 2: Multi variate Logistic regression analysis for the occurrence of new arrhythmia. History of CHF and disease severity in a step wise fashion were independently associated with the occurrence of new arrhythmias. OR= odds ratio.
Figure 3: Multi variate Logistic regression analysis for the occurrence of new tachyarrhythmia. Age, history of CHF, symptoms of palpitations or syncope and disease severity were independently associated with the occurrence of new tachyarrhythmias. OR= odds ratio.
Figure 4: Classification tree for new arrhythmia based on clinical parameters. Age and disease severity level were found to discriminate best new arrhythmia prevalence. Age ≥ 70 was associated with 18.1% prevalence of new arrhythmia, while age < 70 in patients with mild-moderate disease was associated with low (1.6%) prevalence. NL= normal, no arrhythmia; NA= new arrhythmia; CHF= congestive heart failure.
Figure 5: Classification tree for new arrhythmia based on clinical and laboratory parameters. This classification tree incorporated the same clinical parameters as in first tree with the addition of hsTnl and CRP as potential variables. In this model HsTnl (Normal <35 ng/L) was found as the best discriminator for arrhythmia prevalence; as HsTnl ≥ 48 ng/L was associated with 34.1% prevalence of new arrhythmia, while in patients with negative or not-measured hsTnl the prevalence was 2.1%. HsTnl= high sensitivity troponin-I; NA= new arrhythmia.