Type 3 long QT syndrome: Is the effectiveness of treatment with beta-blockers population-specific?

BACKGROUND

The efficacy of beta-blocker treatment in type 3 long QT syndrome (LQT3) remains debated.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that beta-blocker use is associated with cardiac events (CEs) in a French cohort of LQT3 patients.

METHODS

All patients with a likely pathogenic/pathogenic variant in the SCN5A gene (linked to LQT3) were included and followed-up. Documented ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation, torsades de pointes, aborted cardiac arrest, sudden death, and appropriate shocks were considered as severe cardiac events (SCEs). CEs also included syncope.

RESULTS

We included 147 patients from 54 families carrying 23 variants. Six of the patients developed symptoms before the age of 1 year and were analyzed separately. The 141 remaining patients (52.5% male; median age at diagnosis 24.0 years) were followed-up for a median of 11 years. The probabilities of a CE and an SCE from birth to the age of 40 were 20.5% and 9.9%, respectively. QTc prolongation (hazard ratio [HR] 1.12 [1.0-1.2]; P = .005]) and proband status (HR 4.07 [1.9-8.9]; P <.001) were independently associated with the occurrence of CEs. Proband status (HR 8.13 [1.7-38.8]; P = .009) was found to be independently associated with SCEs, whereas QTc prolongation (HR 1.11 [1.0-1.3]; P = .108) did not reach statistical significance. The cumulative probability of the age at first CE/SCE was not lower in patients treated with a beta-blocker.

CONCLUSION

In agreement with the literature, proband status and lengthened QTc were associated with a higher risk of CEs. Our data do not show a protective effect of beta-blocker treatment.