This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Common gene variant may identify blacks at risk for ICD-related events

Sun A. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2011;doi:10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.110.958652.

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Among blacks with HF and reduced ejection fraction who received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, the S1103Y sodium channel variant was associated with a higher incidence of ventricular arrhythmias, according to new data.

“New risk stratification algorithms are urgently needed, especially for African Americans who have been underrepresented in clinical trials,” the study researchers wrote. “Genetic-based risk stratification offers the potential for both identifying high-risk patients who do not qualify for primary prevention strategies and excluding low-risk individuals who do.”

In the study, researchers analyzed data on 112 blacks aged at least 18 years who had ejection fractions of less than 35% and received primary prevention ICDs. All patients were identified in the Duke Electrophysiology Genetic and Genomic Studies biorepository, and those with insufficient clinical follow-up variables or DNA were excluded.

During a mean follow-up of 865 days, 23 patients received appropriate ICD therapy, 12 of whom experienced antitachycardia pacing as their classifying event. Analysis indicated that a significantly higher rate of individuals with the S1103Y variant received appropriate ICD therapy compared with no appropriate ICD therapy (35% vs. 13%; P=.03). After adjustment for baseline variables, the HR for ICD therapy in Y1103 allele carriers was 4.33 (95% CI, 1.60-11.73). No difference in mortality was reported between carriers and noncarriers.

The study’s finding, the researchers wrote, is “consistent with previous reports implicating the S1103Y variant with sudden cardiac death, sudden infant death syndrome and drug-induced long QT syndrome and thus enhances the growing body of literature demonstrating the inherent susceptibility to potentially lethal arrhythmias in Y1103 allele carriers. In combination with traditional risk stratification tools such as ejection fraction, electrocardiogram analysis and medical history, the addition of a genetic component could further strengthen the ability to identify HF patients at highest risk for sudden cardiac death and to identify mechanisms to prevent it. Given the relatively high prevalence of the S1103Y variant, this finding has a potentially large impact for the African-American community.”

Follow CardiologyToday.com on Twitter.