Time-to-Onset Analysis of Drug-Induced Long QT Syndrome Based on a Spontaneous Reporting System for Adverse Drug Events

PLoS One. 2016 Oct 10;11(10):e0164309. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164309. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a disorder of the heart's electrical activity that infrequently causes severe ventricular arrhythmias such as a type of ventricular tachycardia called torsade de pointes (TdP) and ventricular fibrillation, which can be fatal. There have been no previous reports on the time-to-onset for LQTS based on data from spontaneous reporting systems. The aim of this study was to assess the time-to-onset of LQTS according to drug treatment. We analyzed the association between 113 drugs in 37 therapeutic categories and LQTS including TdP using data obtained from the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database. For signal detection, we used the reporting odds ratio (ROR). Furthermore, we analyzed the time-to-onset data and assessed the hazard type using the Weibull shape parameter. The RORs (95% confidence interval) for bepridil, amiodarone, pilsicainide, nilotinib, disopyramide, arsenic trioxide, clarithromycin, cibenzoline, donepezil, famotidine, sulpiride, and nifekalant were 174.4 (148.6-204.6), 17.3 (14.7-20.4), 52.0 (43.4-62.4), 13.9 (11.5-16.7), 69.3 (55.3-86.8), 54.2 (43.2-68.0), 4.7 (3.8-5.8), 19.9 (15.9-25.0), 8.1 (6.5-10.1), 3.2 (2.5-4.1), 7.1 (5.5-9.2), and 254.8 (168.5-385.4), respectively. The medians and quartiles of time-to-onset for aprindine (oral) and bepridil were 20.0 (11.0-35.8) and 18.0 (6.0-43.0) days, respectively. The lower 95% confidence interval of the shape parameter β of bepridil was over 1 and the hazard was considered to increase over time.Our study indicated that the pattern of LQTS onset might differ among drugs. Based on these results, careful long-term observation is recommended, especially for specific drugs such as bepridil and aprindine. This information may be useful for the prevention of sudden death following LQTS and for efficient therapeutic planning.

MeSH terms

  • Administration, Oral
  • Aprindine / administration & dosage
  • Aprindine / adverse effects*
  • Bepridil / administration & dosage
  • Bepridil / adverse effects*
  • Databases, Factual*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Long QT Syndrome* / chemically induced
  • Long QT Syndrome* / epidemiology
  • Long QT Syndrome* / physiopathology
  • Male
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Aprindine
  • Bepridil

Grants and funding

This research was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number, 24390126. JA was an employee of Medical Database Co., LTD during the time of the study and received a salary. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the 'author contributions' section. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.