AHA Releases Statement on Drug-Induced Arrhythmias

The American Heart Association has released a new scientific statement on drug-induced arrhythmias.

“Drugs from many therapeutic classes may cause or ex-acerbate a variety of arrhythmias. Awareness of drugs that may cause arrhythmias and specific arrhythmias that may be drug induced is important,” the authors wrote.

They conducted a literature review of English language studies detailing mechanisms of drug-induced arrhythmias from MEDLINE/PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov.

The statement contains tables detailing various drugs that could be associated with sinus bradycardia, atrial fibrillation, atrial tachycardia, atrioventricular node reentrant tachycardia, and other arrhythmias, listing class, incidence and odds of arrhythmias, and the mechanism behind the relationship for each drug. Strategies for preventing drug-induced arrhythmias are also included.

“Much remains unknown about the mechanisms of arrhythmias associated with specific drugs. Further research is needed to better define the overall incidence of specific drug-induced arrhythmias, the underlying mechanisms, and the optimal methods to reduce risk and to increase awareness among clinicians and patients. Consideration of the possibility that a patient’s arrythmia could be drug-induced is important.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Tisdale JE, Chung MK, Campbell KB, et al. Drug-induced arrhythmias: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Published online September 16, 2020. Circulation. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000905