In brief, a representative stratified random cluster sample of the Finnish population was examined. The purpose of the survey was to provide an up-to-date epidemiological data of major public health problems in Finland, their causes and treatment. The survey was carried out in 2000–2001, and a representative stratified random cluster sample of the Finnish population was examined. The Health 2000 is a major Finnish health examination survey. The aim of this study was to explore the association between IVCDs and new-onset HF and SHD in an unbiased random sample of predominantly Caucasian general population during 16.5 years of total follow-up. Study data regarding the prognostic implications of fascicular blocks, incomplete bundle branch blocks and the R-R’ pattern in either of the leads V1 or V2 to predict HF is practically non-existent. Non-specific IVCD has previously been associated with cardiovascular (CV) mortality and sudden cardiac death, , but the progression to HF has not been extensively studied in patients without overt cardiac disease.

Studies conducted in recent years have evaluated the role of LBBB in inducing left ventricular systolic decline, , while RBBB should play no significant negative role in this aspect. IVCDs are frequent in patients with structural heart disease (SHD), including valvular heart diseases and cardiomyopathies, but no prior prospective population studies have related IVCDs to novel SHD in subjects without known heart disease. Literature assessing the role of IVCDs as risk markers for the development of HF is scarce and has presented conflicting results, and has evaluated only selected bundle branch block categories, ,. For timely initiation of therapy, subjects with high-risk of developing HF ought to be identified. Mortality rates remain high in symptomatic patients with advanced HF and reduced ejection fraction in spite of improvements in medical therapy and effective utilization of cardiac resynchronization therapy. Left bundle branch block (LBBB), right bundle branch block (RBBB), and non-specific IVCD were associated with increased mortality especially in patients with myocardial infarction (MI), , and heart failure (HF),. A previous study showed that increased BNP levels may decrease before implantation of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, but long-term follow-up studies are important to determine the relation between treatment and longitudinal BNP levels in patients who have INIDCM.Intraventricular conduction delays (IVCDs) have been associated with impaired prognosis in patients with known cardiac disease. In monitoring the efficacy of treatment and predicting prognosis. Future studies may determine whether BNP levels may be useful In addition, no data were provided about treatment and clinical follow-up, which may limit the interpretation of the follow-up BNP levels at 3 months. Furthermore, clinical information was limited to cardiac history, but increased plasma BNP may occur in other conditions such as subarachnoid hemorrhage therefore, INIDCM is not the only cause of elevated BNP, and caution must be exercised in the interpretation of elevated plasma BNP levels. To generalize the findings to other types of medical centers. Limitations of the present study included the small sample size of patients from 1 institution, which may limit the potential (%) patients who had high IVCD (QRS > 120 ms) New York Heart Association class (I/II/III/IV)

Ivcd intraventricular conduction delay