TY - JOUR
T1 - Autonomic control of heart rate and QT interval variability influences arrhythmic risk in long QT syndrome type 1
AU - Porta, Alberto
AU - Girardengo, Giulia
AU - Bari, Vlasta
AU - George, Alfred L.
AU - Brink, Paul A.
AU - Goosen, Althea
AU - Crotti, Lia
AU - Schwartz, Peter J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Telethon grant GGP09247 to Dr. Porta, Dr. Crotti, and Dr. Schwartz; National Institutes of Health grant HL068880 to Drs. George, Crotti, and Schwartz; and Italian Ministry of Health Malattie Rare RF-IAI_2008-1216776 to Dr. Crotti and Dr. Schwartz. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American College of Cardiology Foundation.
PY - 2015/2/3
Y1 - 2015/2/3
N2 - Background A puzzling feature of the long QT syndrome (LQTS) is that family members carrying the same mutation often have divergent symptoms and clinical outcomes. Objectives This study tested the hypothesis that vagal and sympathetic control, as assessed by spectral analysis of spontaneous beat-to-beat variability of RR and QT intervals from standard 24-h electrocardiogram Holter recordings, could modulate the severity of LQTS type 1 (LQT1) in 46 members of a South-African LQT1 founder population carrying the clinically severe KCNQ1 A341V mutation. Methods Nonmutation carriers (NMCs) (n = 14) were compared with mutation carriers (MCs) (n = 32), 22 with and 10 without major symptoms. We assessed the effect of circadian rhythm and beta-blocker therapy over traditional time and frequency domain RR and QT variability indexes. Results The asymptomatic MCs differed significantly from the symptomatic MCs and from NMCs in less vagal control of heart rate and more reactive sympathetic modulation of the QT interval, particularly during daytime when arrhythmia risk for patients with LQT1 is greatest. Conclusions The present data identified an additional factor contributing to the differential arrhythmic risk among patients with LQT1 carrying the same mutation. A healthy autonomic control confers a high risk, whereas patients with higher sympathetic control of the QT interval and reduced vagal control of heart rate are at lower risk. This differential "autonomic make-up," likely under genetic control, will allow refinement of risk stratification within families with LQTS, leading to more targeted management.
AB - Background A puzzling feature of the long QT syndrome (LQTS) is that family members carrying the same mutation often have divergent symptoms and clinical outcomes. Objectives This study tested the hypothesis that vagal and sympathetic control, as assessed by spectral analysis of spontaneous beat-to-beat variability of RR and QT intervals from standard 24-h electrocardiogram Holter recordings, could modulate the severity of LQTS type 1 (LQT1) in 46 members of a South-African LQT1 founder population carrying the clinically severe KCNQ1 A341V mutation. Methods Nonmutation carriers (NMCs) (n = 14) were compared with mutation carriers (MCs) (n = 32), 22 with and 10 without major symptoms. We assessed the effect of circadian rhythm and beta-blocker therapy over traditional time and frequency domain RR and QT variability indexes. Results The asymptomatic MCs differed significantly from the symptomatic MCs and from NMCs in less vagal control of heart rate and more reactive sympathetic modulation of the QT interval, particularly during daytime when arrhythmia risk for patients with LQT1 is greatest. Conclusions The present data identified an additional factor contributing to the differential arrhythmic risk among patients with LQT1 carrying the same mutation. A healthy autonomic control confers a high risk, whereas patients with higher sympathetic control of the QT interval and reduced vagal control of heart rate are at lower risk. This differential "autonomic make-up," likely under genetic control, will allow refinement of risk stratification within families with LQTS, leading to more targeted management.
KW - QT variability
KW - autonomic nervous system
KW - beta-blocker therapy
KW - cardiovascular control
KW - heart rate variability
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jacc.2014.11.015
DO - 10.1016/j.jacc.2014.11.015
M3 - Article
C2 - 25634836
AN - SCOPUS:84921694268
SN - 0735-1097
VL - 65
SP - 367
EP - 374
JO - Journal of the American College of Cardiology
JF - Journal of the American College of Cardiology
IS - 4
ER -