title: Cardiovascular drugs inducing QT prolongation: facts and evidence.
abstract: Acquired QT syndrome is mainly caused by the administration of drugs that prolong ventricular repolarization. On the other hand, the risk of drug-induced torsades de pointes is increased by numerous predisposing factors, such as genetic predisposition, female sex, hypokalemia and cardiac dysfunction. This adverse reaction is induced by different chemical compounds used for the treatment of a variety of pathologies, including arrhythmias. As it is known, antiarrhythmic agents and other cardiovascular drugs can prolong the QT interval, causing this adverse reaction. Of the 20 most commonly reported drugs, 10 were cardiovascular agents and these appeared in 348 of the reports (46%). Class Ia antiarrhythmic agents have frequently been linked to inducing arrhythmia, including torsades de pointes. Sotalol and amiodarone, class III antiarrhythmics, are known to prolong the QT interval by blocking I(Kr). Due to the severity of events caused by the therapeutic use of these drugs, in this work of revision the cardiovascular drugs that present this property and the factors and evidence will be mentioned.
authors.affiliation: Cátedra de Farmacología e Instituto de Fisiopatología y Bioquímica Clínica, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. ctaira@ffyb.uba.ar
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Taira
authors.forename: Javier A W
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Opezzo
authors.forename: Marcos A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Höcht
mesh_terms: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008133:Long QT Syndrome / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D016171:Torsades de Pointes / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents