Although PVCs were found in a healthy military population in only 0.6% of those <20 years of age and 2.7% of those >50 years of ageS2.2.2-5 ECGs, longer term monitoring shows PVCs in about 50% of all people with or without heart disease.S2.2.2-6 The presence of PVCs on 2 minutes of monitoring of middle-aged patients in the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) study was associated with in- creased risk of both ischemic heart disease events and mortality, with or without prevalent ischemic heart In the general population, frequent PVCs, which are defined as the presence of at least 1 PVC on a 12-lead ECG or >30 PVCs per hour, are associated with increased cardiovascular risk and in- In a study from Taiwan of pa- tients without sustained VT or structural heart disease who had 24-hour Holter monitoring for clinical evalu- ation, multifocal PVCs were associated with increased risk of death and nonfatal cardiovascular adverse In the same population, nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) was independently as- sociated with increased risk of death and other cardio- vascular adverse outcomes, including stroke.S2.2.2-11 An association of PVCs with increased risk of stroke was also seen in the ARIC population.S2.2.2-8 Because some studies have shown an association of PVCs with adverse outcomes, the detection of PVCs, particularly if multifocal and frequent, is generally con- sideredariskfactorforadversecardiovascularoutcomes, and such patients are generally evaluated to ensure they do not have underlying conditions (eg, ischemic heart disease, left ventricular [LV] dysfunction) that warrant further treatment to reduce risk. PVC and NSVT in pa- tients with cardiovascular disease are common and have been associated with adverse outcomes.S2.2.2-12,S2.2.2-13 In CAST (Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trials), treat- ment of patients with post-myocardial infarction (MI) who took antiarrhythmic medications (eg, flecainide, encainide, moricizine) increased the risk of death de- spite suppression of VA.S2.2.2-14,S2.2.2-15 Treatment of PVCs with antiarrhythmic medications has not been shown to reduce mortality and, in the post-MI population, treatment with class I sodium channel blocking medi- cations (eg, quinidine, flecainide) increases the risk of Likewise, in patients with a reduced LVEF class I, sodium channel blocking medications and d-sotalol increase the risk of death.S2.2.2-16,S2.2.2-17 Beta blockers, nondihydropyridines calcium channel block- CLINICAL STATEMENTS AND GUIDELINES Table 5. 