NEWS - Oral steroids and theophylline raise risk of cardiac arrhythmias

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Oral steroids and theophylline raise risk of cardiac arrhythmias

Last Updated: 2005-04-22 13:56:04 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Of the various agents that are used to treat

respiratory disease, oral steroids and theophylline are most likely to

increase the risk of cardiac arrhythmias, Spanish and US researchers observe

in the May issue of Epidemiology.

Numerous reports have linked respiratory medications with rhythm disorders,

but data from epidemiologic studies are lacking, lead author Dr. Consuelo

Huerta from Centro Espanol de Investigacion Farmacoepidemiologica, Madrid,

and colleagues note.

To investigate this topic further, the researchers assessed respiratory drug

use in 710 patients who experienced a rhythm disorder and in 5000 matched

controls. The subjects were drawn from the UK General Practice Research

Database and ranged in age from 10 to 79 years.

Inhaled steroid use had no effect on the risk of arrhythmias, the

researchers found. By contrast, oral steroid use and, to a lesser extent,

short-term theophylline use were tied to an elevated risk of arrhythmias.

Short-term use of oral steroids and theophylline raised the risk of atrial

fibrillation by 2.7- and 1.8-fold, the authors note. Short-term use of

theophylline and long-term use of oral steroids increased the risk of

supraventricular tachycardia by 4.0- and 2.1-fold. Use of oral steroids and

beta-adrenoceptors was linked to 3.2- and 7.1-fold elevated risks of

ventricular arrhythmias.

The findings, say the authors, " are consistent with certain suspected

dysrhythmic effects of theophyllines, supraventricular tachycardia

associated with antimuscarinics, and ventricular arrhythmias associated with

beta-adrenoreceptors. " In addition, there is " an association of oral

steroids with several types of arrhythmia. "

Atrial fibrillation affected the greatest number of patients, the team

concludes, " but ventricular arrhythmias may be the most serious of the

disorders. "

Epidemiology 2005;16:360-366.

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