Effect of dofetilide on survival in patients supraventricular arrhythmias

Objectives This study compared survival between patients taking dofetilide and patients taking placebo in a pooled analysis of randomized clinical tri als of patients with supraventricular arrhythmias. Background Clinical trials of antiarrhythmic drugs used to treat supraventr icular arrhythmias rarely include enough patients to assess whether the dru g being tested has an effect on survival. Pooling data from many trials pro vides useful information on safety. Methods Data from randomized clinical trials of antiarrhythmic drug therapy of supraventricular arrhythmias were pooled to assess the effect on surviv al of dofetilide (n = 1346) compared with placebo (n = 677) in this patient population. Results The unadjusted hazard ratio for risk of death (dofetilide/placebo) was 1.4 with 95% confidence interval 0.4-5.1. After adjusting for effects o f arrhythmia diagnosis, age, sex, and structural heart disease, the hazard ratio was 1.1 (confidence interval 0.3-4.3). Conclusions The pooled survival analysis provided reassurance regarding the safety of dofetilide in patients with supraventricular arrhythmias.