Arrhythmias & electrophysiology
Consequences of electrocardiography screening for prolonged QTc in neonates—A systematic review
Authors' conclusion
The incidence of prolonged QTc varied widely across studies. Only a small proportion of neonates with prolonged QTc were diagnosed with LQTS during follow-up.
Study context
- Population
- Neonates (<1 month) screened by electrocardiography (ECG) for prolonged QTc8 studies
- Outcome
- Incidence of prolonged QTc (>450 ms) per 1000 neonates; normalization, LQTS diagnosis and SIDS among prolonged QTc cases
Methodological detailsPubMed, Scopus and Web of Science searched June 2024
- PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science searched June 2024
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
QTc >450 ms (5 studies): incidence range per 1000 neonates
5 (95% CI, 5-6) to 79 (CI, 60-102)
QTc >460 ms (6 studies): incidence range per 1000 neonates
1 (CI, 1-2) to 53 (CI, 50-57)
QTc >470 ms (5 studies): incidence range per 1000 neonates
1 (CI, 0-1) to 28 (CI, 21-35)
Further pooled results
QTc normalization during follow-up (6 studies)
- Neonates with prolonged QTc whose QTc normalized
- 57.1% to 95.2%
Long QT syndrome (LQTS) diagnosis (4 studies)
- Neonates later diagnosed with LQTS
- 21 of 51,817 (0.04%)
Prolonged QTc in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases (2 studies)
- SIDS cases with prolonged QTc
- 8 of 24 and 3 of 3
Original publication
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →