Survival in 1,431 pacemaker patients: prognostic factors and comparison with the general population.

A total of 1,431 patients (mean age 63.4 +/- 14.1) with pacemakers (96.2% VVI) primoimplanted between 1967 and 1985 were followed for a mean duration of 78.2 +/- 40 pacing months, with 0.6% loss to follow-up. Cumulative survival for 1, 3, and 10 years was 0.9427, 0.9136, and 0.7536, respectively. There was no significant difference in survival between atrioventricular block (AVB) and sick sinus syndrome (SSS) patients. In addition to age and gender, factors existent prior to implantation that independently affected prognosis included manifest coronary heart disease (CHD), congenital/acquired heart lesions, heart failure, noncardiac internal disease, syncope, and generalized fatigue. After implantation, the most important factor was generalized fatigue, then age, stroke, myocardial infarct (MI), gender (male), heart failure, and syncope. Patients with no underlying disease showed an extremely high cumulative survival (0.9173 at 10 years). Compared to the general population of Yugoslavia, the pacemaker patients showed a similar yearly mortality rate until 1981. After that, elderly males (70+) had a significantly lower yearly mortality than the matched population. Thus, in this large series of pacemaker patients followed into the most recent period with an extremely low loss to follow-up, short- and long-term survival was very high. Pacemaker patients of any age who are otherwise in good health have an excellent prognosis.