Longitudinal change of cardiac electrical and autonomic function and potential risk factors in children with dravet syndrome

•Children with Dravet syndrome had lower heart rate variability than control group.•Children with DS showed longitudinally worsened cardiac autonomic dysfunction.•Epilepsy duration affected the longitudinal change of heart rate variability.•Holter ECG can be useful to evaluate cardiac autonomic dysfunction in DS children. This study aimed to investigate cardiac electrical and autonomic function, the longitudinal changes, and the associated risk factors in children with Dravet syndrome (DS). Twenty-four children with DS (11 boys, 13 girls; mean age, 7.2 ± 2.9 years) and 21 control subjects (9 boys, 12 girls; mean age, 8.2 ± 3.0 years) were enrolled in this study. P dispersion, QTc and QTc dispersion, and heart rate variability (HRV) were evaluated using standard electrocardiography and 24-hr Holter monitoring at the initial and follow-up study of the 6–12 months intervals. The DS group had significantly higher P dispersion (p = 0.017), QT and QTc dispersion values (p