Background Advanced atrioventricular block is a frequent complication
in patients with inferior acute myocardial infarction (AMI); in patien
ts in hospital, it often occurs concurrently with other complications
and is associated with high mortality, Very little information is avai
lable about early and late advanced atrioventricular block in inferior
AMI, We hypothesized that the time of appearance of advanced atrioven
tricular block characterized by poor response to atropine requiring te
mporary pacemaker therapy may affect the prognosis of patients with in
ferior AMI. Methods We studied 51 patients with inferior AMI and advan
ced atrioventricular block characterized by poor response to atropine
requiring temporary pacemaker therapy. According to pre-established el
ectrocardiographic criteria and the time of appearance of the advanced
atrioventricular block, patients were divided into two groups: an ear
ly block group consisting of 30 patients who developed advanced atriov
entricular block during the first 24 h of inferior AMI, and a late blo
ck group consisting of 21 patients who developed advanced atrioventric
ular block after the first 24 h of chest pain. Results The groups were
similar regarding age, coronary risk factors, frequency of right vent
ricular infarction, QRS score, atrial and ventricular rates, the time
of return to first-degree atrioventricular block, cardiac arrhythmias,
heart failure and mortality. The early advanced atrioventricular bloc
k group included a greater number of men than did the late group (P =
0.017). Conclusion These data suggest that the time of appearance of a
dvanced atrioventricular block does not affect the prognosis of hospit
al patients with inferior AMI. (C) 1998 Lippincott-Raven Publishers.