Abstract:Objective To explore the characteristics of ambulatory electrocardiography(AECG) in elderly and pre-elderly patients with arrhythmia and myocardial ischemia.Methods The AECG examination results of 1 635 elderly and pre-elderly patients with cardiac symptoms or suspicious of heart diseases were analysed and compared with those of 952 middle aged and young people contemporarily in our hospital.Results The incidences of various arrhythmias increased with age among elderly and pre-elderly patients while ischemic changes of ST segment were identified in some asymptomatic cases.Conclusion AECG monitoring can screen out high risk group of arrhythmia and myocardial ischemia, especially superior to routine electrocardiogram in diagnosing arrhythmia among elderly patients. For elderly and pre-elderly cases with lower reactivity body, AECG is an indispensable examination method.