Antipsychotics and sudden cardiac death risk factors / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Antipsychotics treatment significantly increases the risk of sudden cardiac death in psy-chiatric patients,especially in elder patients. This paper reviews the major clinical risk factors of sudden car-diac death including myocardial infarction,QT interval prolongation and venous thromboembolism,as well as discusses the possible pharmacological mechanisms. We should focus on assessing somatic factors at the on-set of treatment and during maintenance therapy,and choose the antipsychotics reasonably to reduce the pos-sibility of sudden cardiac death.