[Significance of arrhythmias in advanced age].

Tachycardiac and bradycardiac arrhythmias increase with age. Because cardiac arrhythmias at an advanced age are almost always caused by organic disease, one must face more frequently electrical complications (e.g. ventricular fibrillation). Owing to the decrease of arterial flow volume as well as mean arterial pressure, bradycardiac and tachycardiac arrhythmias result in cerebral symptoms more often in elderly than younger persons. The causes of this observation are the disturbed cerebral autoregulation of blood pressure, but also the insufficient capacity of adaptation of the ageing circulation. In this situation it is more frequently necessary in old people than in younger ones to treat cardiac arrhythmias by antiarrhythmic drugs. The cardiodepressant effect of most antiarrhythmic drugs must be taken into account in this context.