The role of the electrocardiographic phenotype in risk stratification for sudden cardiac death in childhood hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2022 Mar 30;29(4):645-653. doi: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwab046.

Abstract

Aims: The 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is routinely performed in children with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). An ECG risk score has been suggested as a useful tool for risk stratification, but this has not been independently validated. This aim of this study was to describe the ECG phenotype of childhood HCM in a large, international, multi-centre cohort and investigate its role in risk prediction for arrhythmic events.

Methods and results: Data from 356 childhood HCM patients with a mean age of 10.1 years (±4.5) were collected from a retrospective, multi-centre international cohort. Three hundred and forty-seven (97.5%) patients had ECG abnormalities at baseline, most commonly repolarization abnormalities (n = 277, 77.8%); left ventricular hypertrophy (n = 240, 67.7%); abnormal QRS axis (n = 126, 35.4%); or QT prolongation (n = 131, 36.8%). Over a median follow-up of 3.9 years (interquartile range 2.0-7.7), 25 (7%) had an arrhythmic event, with an overall annual event rate of 1.38 (95% CI 0.93-2.04). No ECG variables were associated with 5-year arrhythmic event on univariable or multivariable analysis. The ECG risk score threshold of >5 had modest discriminatory ability [C-index 0.60 (95% CI 0.484-0.715)], with corresponding negative and positive predictive values of 96.7% and 6.7.

Conclusion: In a large, international, multi-centre cohort of childhood HCM, ECG abnormalities were common and varied. No ECG characteristic, either in isolation or combined in the previously described ECG risk score, was associated with 5-year sudden cardiac death risk. This suggests that the role of baseline ECG phenotype in improving risk stratification in childhood HCM is limited.

Keywords: Cardiomyopathy; Children; Electrocardiogram; Hypertrophic; Sudden death.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic* / complications
  • Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic* / diagnosis
  • Death, Sudden, Cardiac* / epidemiology
  • Death, Sudden, Cardiac* / etiology
  • Electrocardiography / methods
  • Humans
  • Phenotype
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Assessment
  • Risk Factors