Clinical Significance of Supraventricular Tachycardia During Pregnancy in Healthy Women.

BACKGROUND: Supraventricular tachycardias (SVT) are the most frequently encountered arrhythmias in pregnancy with unclear clinical significance. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to report the prevalence, describe the management, and explore the association between SVT and adverse obstetric outcomes. METHODS: Cohort study of primiparous and multiparous women without history of Cesarean section (CS), and with structurally normal hearts admitted in labor. The study group consisted of women with at least 1 SVT episode during pregnancy, and the control group was randomly selected in a 4:1 ratio. RESULTS: Of 141,769 women meeting the inclusion criteria, SVT diagnosis was confirmed in 122. A total of 76 (age 33.2 ± 4.8 years) had at least 1 symptomatic and documented episode during pregnancy. In women with a known SVT diagnosis before pregnancy, medical therapy was not associated with a lower risk of SVT recurrence (OR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.41-2.80). However, catheter ablation before pregnancy was associated with significantly lower risk of SVT recurrence (OR: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.04-0.23). Women with SVT during pregnancy had higher incidence of CS (39.5% vs 27.0%; P = 0.03), and preterm labor (PTL) (30.3% vs 8.6%; P < 0.001). Adjusting for age and parity, SVT during pregnancy was an independent predictor of CS (OR: 1.80; 95% CI: 1.03-3.10), particularly planned CS (OR: 2.89; 95% CI: 1.06-7.89) and PTL (OR: 4.37; 95% CI: 2.30-8.31). CONCLUSIONS: SVT during pregnancy is associated with increased risk for CS and PTL in healthy women. History of SVT should be sought as early as preconception counseling, and a multidisciplinary approach is warranted for both prevention and management of SVT occurrence.

Leveraging electronic health record query to streamline adverse event reporting and protocol compliance.

Electronic medical records are increasingly being leveraged to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical trials. Reporting safety data and adhering to follow-up schedules are two challenges faced by study centers conducting a large number of clinical trials led by a single principal investigator. The Lenox Hill Electrophysiology Research Department collaborated with Northwell Health's informatics department to develop a live query accessing both inpatient and outpatient data. To demonstrate the efficacy of this approach we compared the compliance rate of adverse event reporting and patient follow-up visits between a clinical trial run using this approach and a clinical trial conducted prior to use. We compared the number of out of window visits, missed visits, missed assessments, subject drop out and number of late reported adverse events between both studies. The trial run using the described query method had a marked reduction in these categories. Leveraging available informatics resources have allowed for improved efficiency, accurate adverse even reporting and improved follow-up scheduling.