JOURNAL ARTICLE
REVIEW
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Reckless administration of QT interval-prolonging agents in elderly patients with drug-induced torsade de pointes.

A systematic review was conducted for all published case reports on drug-induced torsade de pointes (TdP) in elderly (≥80 years) patients to study if the administration of the offending agent was reckless. Overall, 61 reports on drug-induced TdP in patients aged 80-97 years were included in the analysis. Non-modifiable risk factors for drug-induced TdP (e.g. acute coronary syndrome, female gender and congestive heart failure), modifiable risk factors (e.g. hypokalemia, severe hypomagnesemia and digitalis toxicity) and reckless administration of a QT interval-prolonging agent (e.g. despite a known QT interval prolongation or a history of TdP, together with other QT interval prolonging agents in higher than recommended doses) were recorded in each case. Overall, 54 (88.5%) patients had non-modifiable risk factors for drug-induced TdP and 21 (34.4%) patients had modifiable risk factors. The administration of the offending agent was reckless in one half (n = 31; 50.8%) of the patients. The most prevalent reckless administration of a QT interval-prolonging agent was together with other QT interval-prolonging agents (n = 16; 51.6%) or despite QT interval prolongation (n = 8; 25.8%). In conclusion, although risk factors for drug-induced TdP are prevalent in elderly patients with drug-induced TdP, in approximately 50% of patients it appeared following a reckless administration of a QT interval-prolonging agent. In this population physicians should particularly avoid administration of two or more QT interval-prolonging agents simultaneously or administration of a QT interval-prolonging agent despite QT interval prolongation.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app