Burden of arrhythmia in hospitalized HIV patients.

BACKGROUND: The improved life expectancy observed in patients living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has made age-related cardiovascular complications, including arrhythmias, a growing health concern. HYPOTHESIS: We describe the temporal trends in frequency of various arrhythmias and assess impact of arrhythmias on hospitalized HIV patients using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). METHODS: Data on HIV-related hospitalizations from 2005 to 2014 were obtained from the NIS database using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9) codes. Data was further subclassified into hospitalizations with associated arrhythmias and those without. Baseline demographics and comorbidities were determined. Outcomes including in-hospital mortality, cost of care, and length of stay were extracted. SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) was utilized for analysis. A multivariable analysis was performed to identify predictors of arrhythmias among hospitalized HIV patients. RESULTS: Among 2 370 751 HIV-related hospitalizations identified, the overall frequency of any arrhythmia was 3.01%. Atrial fibrillation (AF) was the most frequent arrhythmia (2110 per 100 000). The overall frequency of arrhythmias increased over time by 108%, primarily due to a 132% increase in AF. Arrhythmias are more frequent among older males, lowest income quartile, and nonelective admissions. Patients with arrhythmias had a higher in-hospital mortality rate (9.6%). In-hospital mortality among patients with arrhythmias decreased over time by 43.8%. The cost of care and length of stay associated with arrhythmia-related hospitalizations were mostly unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: Arrhythmias are associated with significant morbidity and mortality in hospitalized HIV patients. AF is the most frequent arrhythmia in hospitalized HIV patients.

Safety and compatibility of smart device heart rhythm monitoring in patients with cardiovascular implantable electronic devices.

INTRODUCTION: Emerging medical technology has allowed for monitoring of heart rhythm abnormalities using smartphone compatible devices. The safety and utility of such devices have not been established in patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs). We sought to assess the safety and compatibility of the Food and Drug Administration-approved AliveCor Kardia device in patients with CIEDs. METHODS AND RESULTS: We prospectively recruited patients with CIED for a Kardia recording during their routine device interrogation. A recording was obtained in paced and nonpaced states. Adverse clinical events were noted at the time of recording. Electrograms (EGMs) from the cardiac device were obtained at the time of recording to assess for any electromagnetic interference (EMI) introduced by Kardia. Recordings were analyzed for quality and given a score of 3 (interpretable rhythm, no noise), 2 (interpretable rhythm, significant noise) or 1 (uninterpretable). A total of 251 patients were recruited (59% with a pacemaker and 41% with ICD). There were no adverse clinical events noted at the time of recording and no changes to CIED settings. Review of all EGMs revealed no EMI introduced by Kardia. Recordings were correctly interpreted in 90% of paced recordings (183 had a score of 3, 43 of 2, and 25 of 1) and 94.7% of nonpaced recordings (147 of 3, 15 of 2, and 9 of 1). CONCLUSION: The AliveCor Kardia device has an excellent safety profile when used in conjunction with most CIEDs. The quality of recordings was preserved in this population. The device, therefore, can be considered for heart rhythm monitoring in patients with CIEDs.

The efficacy and safety of electroanatomic mapping-guided endomyocardial biopsy: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: Electroanatomic mapping (EAM) has been utilized as a modality to improve the sensitivity of endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). We sought to systematically review published medical literature on the efficacy and safety of EAM-guided EMB. METHODS: We searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Ovid CDR, Cochrane Central, Scopus, and Web of Science for studies where EAM was used for EMB. Data abstracted included demographics, indications, final diagnoses, histology findings, and technical details of biopsy extraction. Test characteristics including sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), and area under curve (AUC) were calculated on a per-patient and per-biopsy level. RESULTS: Seventeen studies (9 case series, 8 case reports) were included in this systematic review. EAM-guided EMB was performed in 148 patients and results of 207 individual biopsies were available for analysis. The most common indications for EAM-guided EMB were suspected arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), myocarditis, and cardiac sarcoidosis (CS). The pooled sensitivity and specificity for EAM-guided EMB for the diagnosis of cardiomyopathies (ARVC, myocarditis, CS, and other specific diagnoses) were 92 and 58% on per-biopsy analysis and 100 and 39% on per-patient analysis. Among the individual components of abnormal EGMs, abnormal unipolar EGM had the best AUC on per-biopsy (0.81, 95% CI 0.68-0.90) and per-patient analysis (0.84, 95% CI 0.68-0.92). EAM-guided EMB appears safe. Adverse events included 1 hemopericardium, 2 minimal asymptomatic pericardial effusions, and 1 femoral hematoma. CONCLUSIONS: EAM-guided EMB is a safe and efficacious method and might improve test characteristics over conventional fluoroscopy-guided biopsy.