Open AccessRole of Early Repolarization Pattern in Increasing Risk of Death
Author(s) -
Cheng YunJiu,
Lin XiaoXiong,
Ji ChengCheng,
Chen XuMiao,
Liu LiJuan,
Tang Kai,
Wu SuHua
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the american heart association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.494
H-Index - 85
ISSN - 2047-9980
DOI - 10.1161/jaha.116.003375
Subject(s) - medicine , benign early repolarization , sudden cardiac death , relative risk , population , confidence interval , cardiology , cause of death , sudden death , myocardial infarction , disease , st segment , environmental health
Background An early repolarization pattern ( ERP ) has been hypothesized to be arrhythmogenic in experimental studies, but the prognostic significance of the ERP in the general population is controversial. We performed a meta‐analysis to examine the link between ERP and the risk of sudden cardiac arrest ( SCA ), cardiac death, and death from any cause. Methods and Results We performed a literature search using MEDLINE (January 1, 1966 to July 31, 2015) and EMBASE (January 1, 1980 to July 31, 2015) with no restrictions. Studies that reported relative risk ( RR ) estimates with 95% confidence intervals ( CI s) for the associations of interest were included. Sixteen studies involving 334 524 subjects were identified. Compared with those without ERP , subjects with ERP experienced significantly increased risk for developing SCA ( RR 2.18; 95% CI 1.29–3.68), cardiac death ( RR 1.48; 95% CI 1.06–2.07), and death from any cause ( RR 1.21; 95% CI 1.02–1.42), respectively. The increased risk was present predominantly in Asians and whites but not in African Americans. ERP with J‐point elevation in inferior leads, notching configuration, and horizontal or descending ST segment connote higher risk. ERP was associated with an absolute risk increase of 139.6 (95% CI 130.3–149.3) additional SCA s per 100 000 person‐years and responsible for 7.3% (95% CI 1.9–15.2) of SCA in the general population. Conclusions ERP is associated with significant increased risk for SCA , cardiac death, and death from any cause. Future studies should focus on understanding the exact mechanisms for the arrhythmia risk and developing reliable tools for risk stratification.