Highlights
- •Evaluation of prevalence of prolonged corrected QT (QTc) in elderly patients with dementia.
- •Identification of variables, including drugs, associated with prolonged QTc interval.
- •Impact of prolonged QTc on one-year mortality and recurrence of syncope.
Abstract
Background
Long QT and use of QT-prolonging drugs are common among older patients receiving polytherapies,
but real-world evidence on their impact in clinical practice is controversial. We
investigated prevalence, variables associated and clinical implications of prolonged
corrected QT (QTc) among patients from the Syncope and Dementia study.
Methods
Observational, prospective, multicenter study. Patients≥65 years with dementia and
fall suspected for syncope in the previous three months were enrolled. Several clinical
variables and the complete list of medications were recorded for each patient. A 12‑lead
ECG was obtained and corrected QT was calculated by the Bazett's formula. One-year
followup for death and recurrent syncope was performed.
Results
Prolonged QTc was observed in 25% of the 432 enrolled patients (mean age 83.3), and
was significantly associated with male gender (OR 2.09; 95% CI 1.34–3.26) and diuretics
use (OR 1.85; 95% CI 1.18–2.90). At one-year 23.3% of patients died and 30.4% reported
at least one recurrent event. Variables associated with one-year mortality were: age,
male gender, atrial fibrillation (AF), use of calcium channel blockers and prolonged
QTc (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.01–3.20). Among patients with prolonged QTc a significant interaction
for mortality was found with AF. Recurrent events were associated with the use of
antiplatelets, cholinesterase.
inhibitors and antipsychotics, but not with prolonged QTc.
Conclusions
We documented a high prevalence of prolonged QTc, that was associated with male gender
and diuretics but not with psychoactive medications. Patients with prolonged QTc had
higher one-year mortality, that was four-fold increased in those with concomitant
AF.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 25, 2018
Accepted:
October 16,
2018
Received in revised form:
September 19,
2018
Received:
May 11,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
