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Left Ventricular Hypertrophy & Arrhythmias: Any Association?
Associations between left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and both supraventricular (SVT)/ventricular arrhythmias (VT/VF) have previously been reported.
A recent review & meta-analysis of 10 studies (27,141 patients) revealed the following:
- Incidence of SVT was 11% with LVH compared to 1% without (p <0.001)
- LVH patients had 3.4-fold greater odds of developing SVT
- Incidence of VT/VF was 5.5% with LVH compared to 1.2% without (p <0.001)
- LVH patients has 2.8 greater odds of developing VT/VF
The reason for increased arrhythmogenicity in LVH is not clearly understood.
A consistently observed abnormality in LVH is non-uniform propagation of the action potential throughout the myocardium, which sets the stage for arrhythmias based on early or delayed afterdepolarizations.
Given the heterogeneity in this meta-analysis further research between LVH & sustained arrhythmias is needed to infer true causality.
References
Saurav C, Chirag B, et al. Meta-Analysis of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Sustained Arrhythmias. The American Journal of Cardiology. Volume 114, Issue 7, Pages 1049-1052 (1 October 2014).