Early Repolarization Increases the Occurrence of Sustained Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias and Sudden Death in the Chronic Phase of an Acute Myocardial Infarction

BACKGROUND—We recently showed that the presence of early repolarization (ER) increases the risk of ventricular fibrillation occurrences in the early phase of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study aimed to clarify whether an association exists between ER and occurrences of ventricular tachyarrhythmias or sudden death in the chronic phase of AMI. METHODS AND RESULTS—This study retrospectively enrolled 1131 patients (67±12 years; 862 men) with AMIs surviving 14 days post-AMI. The primary end point was the occurrence of sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias or sudden death >14 days after the AMI onset. We evaluated the presence of ER from the predischarge ECG (mean 10±3 days post-AMI). ER was defined as an elevation of the terminal portion of the QRS complex of >0.1 mV in inferior or lateral leads. After a median follow-up of 26.2 months, 26 patients had an episode of ventricular tachyarrhythmias or sudden death. A multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed the presence of ER (hazard ratio, 5.37; 95% confidence interval, 2.27–12.69; PI (hazard ratio, 2.75; 95% confidence interval, 1.24–6.07; P=0.013), and a left ventricular ejection fraction of