Objective

The goal of this study was to examine the association between ECG repolarization parameters and mortality in Chagas disease (CD) patients living in the United States.

Methods

CD patients with cardiomyopathy (CM) and bundle branch block (BBB) or BBB alone were compared to age- and sex-matched controls. QT interval, QT dispersion (QTd), T wave peak to T wave end duration (Tp-Te) and T wave peak to T wave end dispersion ((Tp-Te)d) were measured. Presence of fractionated QRS (fQRS) was also assessed. The main outcome measure was the association between ECG parameters and mortality or need for cardiac transplant.

Results

A total of 18 CM and 13 BBB CD patients were studied with 97% originating from Mexico or Central America. QTd (60.0±15.0 ms vs 43.5±9.8 ms, P=0.0002), Tp-Te (102.6±29.3 ms vs 77.1±11.0 ms, P=0.0002) and (Tp-Te)d (39.5±9.4 ms vs 22.7±7.6 ms, P<0.0001) were prolonged in CD CM patients compared to CM controls. Chagas CM patients had more fQRS then controls (84.2±0.10% vs 33.3±0.11%, p=0.0005). QTd (59.9±15.0 ms vs 29.5±6.9 ms, P=0.0001) and (Tp-Te)d (40.0±15.9 ms vs 18.5±5.4 ms, p<0.0001) were longer in the CD BBB group compared to BBB controls. Univariate analysis showed QTd (56.9±15.0 ms vs 46.5±17.3 ms, p=0.0412) and (Tp-Te)d (36.8±13.5 ms vs 28.5±13.3 ms, p=0.0395) were associated with death and/or need for cardiac transplant.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that P-max and PD are useful electrocardiographic markers for identifying the β-TM-high-risk patients for AF onset, even when the cardiac function is conserved.