Tze-Fan Chao1, Chia-Jen Liu2, Ta-Chuan Tuan3, Jo-Nan Liao1, Yenn-Jiang Lin1, Tzeng-Ji Chen4, Chi-Woon Kong5, Shih-Ann Chen1. 1. Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Clinical Medicine, and Cardiovascular Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. 2. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Public Health and School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. 3. Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Clinical Medicine, and Cardiovascular Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Division of Cardiology, Taipei Municipal Gan-Dau Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: duan.dachuan@gmail.com. 4. Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. 5. Institute of Clinical Medicine, and Cardiovascular Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The implantation of a permanent pacemaker (PPM) is life-saving for patients with life-threatening bradycardia. However, the effectiveness and prognosis of PPM implantations for extremely old patients (≥ 90 years old) have not been investigated. METHODS: From 2001-2012, a total of 108 patients older than 90 years were identified from 2630 consecutive patients receiving PPM implantations in our hospital as the study group. For each study patient, 4 age-, sex-, and comorbidity-matched subjects who did not have the diagnoses of bradyarrhythmias indicated for PPM implantations were selected from the "Taiwan National Health Research Database" to constitute the control group (n = 432). The study end point was all-cause mortality. RESULTS: The median age of the study population was 91 (interquartile range, 90-93) years. Among the PPM group, 45 patients died during the follow-up with an annual mortality rate of 18.7%. The risk of mortality did not differ significantly between the study and control groups with a hazard ratio of 1.020 (95% confidence interval, 0.724-1.437; P = 0.912) after the adjustment for age and sex. Procedure-related complications occurred in 7.4% of the patients receiving PPM implants, and pocket hematoma was the most common. The preimplantation history of heart failure and cerebrovascular accident, rather than age, were significant predictors of mortality among PPM recipients. CONCLUSIONS: Nonagenarians with severe bradyarrhythmias could retain the same life expectancies as those without bradyarrhythmias through PPM implantations. Extremely old age (≥90 years) should not be a barrier for PPM implants when indications are present.
BACKGROUND: The implantation of a permanent pacemaker (PPM) is life-saving for patients with life-threatening bradycardia. However, the effectiveness and prognosis of PPM implantations for extremely old patients (≥ 90 years old) have not been investigated. METHODS: From 2001-2012, a total of 108 patients older than 90 years were identified from 2630 consecutive patients receiving PPM implantations in our hospital as the study group. For each study patient, 4 age-, sex-, and comorbidity-matched subjects who did not have the diagnoses of bradyarrhythmias indicated for PPM implantations were selected from the "Taiwan National Health Research Database" to constitute the control group (n = 432). The study end point was all-cause mortality. RESULTS: The median age of the study population was 91 (interquartile range, 90-93) years. Among the PPM group, 45 patients died during the follow-up with an annual mortality rate of 18.7%. The risk of mortality did not differ significantly between the study and control groups with a hazard ratio of 1.020 (95% confidence interval, 0.724-1.437; P = 0.912) after the adjustment for age and sex. Procedure-related complications occurred in 7.4% of the patients receiving PPM implants, and pocket hematoma was the most common. The preimplantation history of heart failure and cerebrovascular accident, rather than age, were significant predictors of mortality among PPM recipients. CONCLUSIONS: Nonagenarians with severe bradyarrhythmias could retain the same life expectancies as those without bradyarrhythmias through PPM implantations. Extremely old age (≥90 years) should not be a barrier for PPM implants when indications are present.
Authors: Abdolreza Rajaeefard; Mohammad Ghorbani; Mohammad Ali Babaee Baigi; Hamidreza Tabatabae Journal: Iran Red Crescent Med J Date: 2015-11-14 Impact factor: 0.611