Validating and implementing cardiac telemetry for continuous QTc monitoring: A novel approach to increase healthcare personnel safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Minimizing direct patient contact among healthcare personnel is crucial for mitigating infectious risk during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The use of remote cardiac telemetry as an alternative to 12­lead electrocardiography (ECG) for continuous QTc monitoring may facilitate this strategy, but its application has not yet been validated or implemented. METHODS: In the validation component of this two-part prospective cohort study, a total of 65 hospitalized patients with simultaneous ECG and telemetry were identified. QTc obtained via remote telemetry as measured by 3 independent, blinded operators were compared with ECG as assessed by 2 board-certified electrophysiologists as the gold-standard. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to measure the strength of linear correlation between the two methods. In a separate cohort comprised of 68 COVID-19 patients treated with combined hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, telemetry-based QTc values were compared at serial time points after medication administration using Friedman rank-sum test of repeated measures. RESULTS: Telemetry-based QTc measurements highly correlated with QTc values derived from ECG, with correlation coefficients of 0.74, 0.79, 0.85 (individual operators), and 0.84 (mean of all operators). Among the COVID-19 cohort, treatment led to a median QTc increase of 15 milliseconds between baseline and following the 9th dose (p = 0.002), with 8 (12%) patients exhibiting an increase in QTc ≥ 60 milliseconds and 4 (6%) developing QTc ≥ 500 milliseconds. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac telemetry is a validated clinical tool for QTc monitoring that may serve an expanding role during the COVID-19 pandemic strengthened by its remote and continuous monitoring capability and ubiquitous presence throughout hospitals.