LONG-TERM SURVIVAL AFTER PACEMAKER IMPLANTATION FOR HEART-BLOCK IN PATIENTS GREATER-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-65 YEARS

Permanent pacing can prevent recurrent symptoms and reduce mortality in elderly patients with symptomatic high-degree atrioventricular (AV) block. However, long-term survival with respect to comparable control subjects has not been well defined. In our study, relative long-term survival and prognostic predictors after permanent pacemaker implantation for symptomatic high-degree AV block were assessed among all residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, who were greater than or equal to 65 years old. Of the 154 patients, 77 were men and 77 were women (mean age 80 +/- 7 years). Follow-up was 0.1 to 19.8 years (mean 4.2 +/- 2.8). Sixty-nine patients had isolated AV block and 85 had coexisting heart disease. Observed survival at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years was 85%, 68%, 52%, 21%, and 72%, 50%, 31%, 11% for patients with isolated AV block and patients with coexisting heart disease, respectively (p = 0.006). Observed survival in patients 65 to 79 years old with isolated AV block was comparable to age- and sex-matched cohorts (p = 0.53), but in patients aged greater than or equal to 80 years, it was less than that for control subjects (p = 0.014). In patients with coexisting heart disease, observed survival was less than that for control subjects in patients 65 to 79 years old (p <0.001) and greater than or equal to 80 years (p <0.001). Multivariate analysis identified congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, age, syncope, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, and male gender as independent predictors of increased mortality.