Prevalence and prognosis of Brugada electrocardiogram patterns in an elderly Han Chinese population: a nation-wide community-based study (HALST cohort)

Abstract

Aims: The exact world-wide prevalence of Brugada electrocardiogram (ECG) pattern is still unclear, especially in adults aged 55 years and older.

Methods and results: The study was conducted as part of the Healthy Aging Longitudinal Study in Taiwan (HALST). Using a stratified random sampled method, a sample of community-dwelling subjects was recruited from seven community-based regions across Taiwan. All enrolled subjects were follow-up annually and cause of death was documented by citizen death records. A total of 5214 subjects were enrolled (male/female: 2530/2684) with a mean age of 69 ± 8 years. The overall prevalence of Brugada ECG patterns was 3.32%. Four subjects carried spontaneous Type 1 Brugada ECG pattern, 68 carried Type 2, and 101 carried Type 3. Compared with the world-wide average prevalence of Brugada ECG patterns, the prevalence of spontaneous Type 1 Brugada ECG pattern in subjects from the HALST cohort was similar (0.077 vs. 0.07%) and the combined prevalence of Types 2 and 3 Brugada ECG pattern was 10 times higher (3.24 vs. 0.28%) even the mean age of study subjects was significantly higher (69 ± 8 vs. 35 ± 8, P < 0.001). However, all-cause mortality and cardiac mortality rates were not significantly different between subjects with and without Brugada ECG patterns during the 4-year follow-up (log-rank test, P = 0.21, 0.32, respectively).

Conclusion: The prevalence of Brugada ECG pattern in adults aged 55 years and older in Taiwan was higher than the average world-wide prevalence but was not associated with increased mortality.

Keywords: Brugada ECG pattern; Community-based; Han Chinese population; Long-term prognosis.