Comparison of dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease in patients with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias: Differences in presentation and outcome in the AVID registry

Background The etiology of structural heart disease in patients with life-t hreatening arrhythmias (ventricular tachycardia [VT]/ventricular fibrillati on [VF]) may define clinical characteristics at presentation, may require t hat different therapies be administered, and may cause different mortality outcomes. Methods In the Antiarrhythmics Versus Implantable Defibrillators (AVID) reg istry, baseline clinical characteristics, treatments instituted, and ultima te mortality outcomes from the National Death Index were obtained on 3117 p atients seen at participating institutions with VT/VF, irrespective of part icipation in the randomized trial. By use of these data, 2268 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) were compared with 334 patients with dilated nonischemic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Results The CAD group was 7 years older and had a higher percentage of male s. DCM patients were more likely to be African American, have severely comp romised left ventricular function (52% vs 39%), and have a history of conge stive heart failure symptoms (62% vs 44%). Patients with CAD were more like ly to be treated with beta -blockers and calcium channel blockers and less likely to be treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. Patient s with DCM were more likely to be treated with diuretics, warfarin, and an implantable cardioverter defibrillator for VT/VF (54% vs 48% for CAD); the use of other antiarrhythmic therapies did not differ between the 2 groups. Two-year survival was not significantly different between the groups (76.6% [95% CI 74.6%-78.7%] vs 78.2% [95% CI 73.6%-82.9%]). Conclusions In AVID registry patients with VT/VF, demographic and clinical characteristics were different between patients with CAD and those with DCM . Despite these differences, overall survival was similar in these 2 groups .