Heart Rhythm Ailment Needn’t Preclude Driving

For years, doctors have told patients with a serious heart rhythm problem known as ventricular tachyarrhythmia not to drive. A new study suggests that advice may be unwarranted.

A survey of 627 people who have the condition, in which the heart suddenly begins beating too fast to pump blood efficiently, has found that such patients are actually less prone to automobile accidents than the general population.

The team, led by Dr. Toshio Akiyama of the University of Rochester in New York state, found the annual accident rate among the patients was 3.4%, lower than the 4.9% rate for Americans in the same age group and less than half the 7.1% accident rate for the general U.S. population.

People who have been treated for ventricular tachyarrhythmia “should be permitted to drive as soon as their associated medical conditions allow,” the researchers said. The study was published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.