New Appearance of Fragmented QRS as a Predictor of Ventricular Arrhythmic Events in Patients With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Background: Multiple spikes in the QRS complex (fragmented QRS [fQRS]) on 12-lead electrocardiography have been associated with ventricular arrhythmic events (VAEs) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The aim of this study was to assess the association between new appearances of fQRS and cardiac events in patients with HCM.Methods and Results:The association between baseline fQRS and cardiac events, namely VAEs, heart failure-related hospitalization, and all-cause death, was evaluated retrospectively in 146 HCM patients (46 patients with fQRS, 100 without fQRS). The median follow-up was 5.3 years. Cardiac events occurred in 29 patients with baseline fQRS and 32 patients without baseline fQRS (63% vs. 32%; P<0.001). VAEs occurred in a significantly larger percentage of patients with than without baseline fQRS (54% vs. 23%, respectively; P<0.001). Of the 100 patients without baseline fQRS, 33 had a new appearance of fQRS during the 4.6-year follow-up, whereas 67 did not. VAEs occurred more frequently in the 33 patients with the appearance of fQRS than in those without (42% vs. 13%, respectively; P=0.001). Multivariable analysis showed that the new appearance of fQRS documented before VAEs was associated with VAEs (hazard ratio 4.29, 95% confidence interval 1.81-10.2; P=0.001).
Conclusions: The new appearance of fQRS was associated with an increased risk of VAEs in HCM patients.