Prolonged QT interval and risk of recurrent stroke in the Atrial Cardiopathy and Antithrombotic Drugs in Prevention After Cryptogenic Stroke (ARCADIA) trial.

BACKGROUND

QT interval prolongation is associated with incident stroke in the general population. Whether QT prolongation predicts recurrent stroke is unknown.

METHODS

The Atrial Cardiopathy and Antithrombotic Drugs in Prevention After Cryptogenic Stroke trial was conducted in North America from 2018 to 2023 and randomised patients with cryptogenic stroke and atrial cardiopathy to apixaban versus aspirin to assess the prevention of recurrent strokes. In this secondary analysis, we excluded patients with missing ECG data and those with prolonged QRS (≥120 ms). The poststroke QT interval was corrected for heart rate (QTc) using a cohort-specific correction formula and the Framingham, Hodges, Bazett and Fridericia formulae. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between QTc and recurrent stroke of any type.

RESULTS

Among 881 included patients, 139 (15.8%) had a prolonged cohort-specific QTc. Over a mean of 1.8 years, 62 patients had recurrent strokes of any type (crude rate 7.0%, annualised rate 3.9% per year). After multivariable adjustment, prolongation of cohort-specific QTc was associated with decreased risk of recurrent stroke (HR (95% CI)=0.72 (0.54 to 0.95) per SD and 0.16 (0.04 to 0.64) for prolonged vs normal QTc). These findings were consistent across methods of QT interval correction. Accounting for the timing of baseline ECG, QRS duration, incident atrial fibrillation and the competing risk of death did not change the results.

CONCLUSIONS

Among patients with recent cryptogenic stroke and atrial cardiopathy, QTc prolongation was associated with a reduced risk of recurrent stroke. These findings contrast with the association observed between QTc prolongation and first stroke in the general population, which may reflect the unique characteristics of this selected population. If confirmed in broader populations, these findings suggest that electrocardiographic markers such as QTc may have distinct implications for risk stratification in terms of first versus recurrent stroke.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03192215.