Risk Factors And Causes of Premature Ventricular Contractions

High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is a long-term condition where the force of blood against the walls of arteries is higher then it should be. Both the quantity of blood the heart pumps and the amount of resistance to the flow of blood within the arteries determine blood pressure. There are numerous ways hypertension can put an individual at an increased risk for premature ventricular contractions. Hypertension causes damage to the blood vessel walls, and this damage allows for cholesterol and other substances to penetrate into the vessels. This penetration is the main cause of clogged and narrowed coronary arteries that often manifest themselves through PVCs.

In addition, high blood pressure makes the heart work harder, or it puts the heart under conditions of a heavy and continuous load of mechanical work to get blood pumped throughout the body. The carefully calibrated calcium control mechanism that regulates the beating rhythm of the heart can easily become unstable in such workload circumstances. When the calcium channel system is unstable, the electrical impulses that tell the heart chambers when to contract and relax become disrupted. Any disruption in these impulses can result in any heart arrhythmias, including premature ventricular contractions.