The American journal of cardiology
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Approximately 60% of children with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) develop their initial episode by 1 year of age. Despite resolution in most of these patients by 1 year, approximately 30% of the SVT will recur. We performed a retrospective review of all patients <1 year of age with SVT between January 1984 and December 2000. ⋯ Thus, patients with WPW syndrome who had SVT at <1 year of age have 29-fold higher odds of recurrence at >1 year of age versus those patients with preexcitation. These patients are also more likely to require additional antiarrhythmic therapy to control SVT. Furthermore, children with WPW syndrome who are refractory to treatment with digoxin and/or propranolol are at increased risk of SVT recurrence.
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Conventional electrical cardioversion failed to restore normal sinus rhythm (NSR) in 49 of 364 patients (13.5%) with persistent atrial fibrillation. After receiving up to 2 mg of atropine, 40 (81%) of these 49 "electrical-refractory" patients were successfully cardioverted to NSR by subsequent attempts of electrical cardioversion.
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Information about the impact of race/ethnicity on adverse outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the modern era is limited. Using consecutive patients from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Dynamic Registry, this study investigated differences in clinical presentation, treatment strategy, and acute and long-term outcomes in 3,669 white, 446 black, 301 Hispanic, and 201 Asian patients who underwent PCI. All comparisons were made to whites. ⋯ All other in-hospital complications were similar to whites. At 1 year, there were no statistical differences in cumulative adverse event rates by ethnicity; however by 2 years there was a modestly higher mortality rate (adjusted RR 1.87; 95% confidence interval 1.15 to 3.04) and adverse event rate (death/MI, death/MI/CABG) among black patients. Thus, although differences in patient demographics, clinical presentation, angiographic characteristics and treatment strategies did not impact the incidence of acute and 1-year adverse outcomes of non-whites, there appears to be a significant reduction in event-free survival among blacks by 2 years.