Thyroid dysfunction in patients with suspected or documented supraventricular tachyarrhythmia

Abstract

Abstract Background and objectives The association between thyroid dysfunction and supraventricular tachyarrhythmia (SVT) other than atrial fibrillation (AF) is not well elucidated. We hypothesized that patients with suspected or documented SVT have undetected thyroid dysfunction more frequently than general population. Subjects and methods Patients with symptoms suggestive of SVT other than AF who were planned to undergo an EP study at our center were eligible for this study. Patients with known thyroid disease, medications affecting thyroid function test (TFT) or atrial fibrillation were excluded. The primary outcome was prevalence of TFT abnormalities in the study population. The secondary outcome was prevalence of clinically significant arrhythmia during the EP study. Results A total of 533 patients were analyzed. Patients were divided into the two groups according to TFT results. Fifty-six (10.5%) patients had abnormal TFT results (thyroid dysfunction group), while 477 (89.5%) had normal thyroid function (euthyroidism group). The overall prevalence of thyroid dysfunction was 10.5%. The thyroid dysfunction group showed a tendency for higher induction of clinically significant SVT than the euthyroidism group. However, thyroid dysfunction was not an independent predictor of clinically significant SVT during EP study. Conclusion In this study, patients with suspected SVT who were planned for EP study had a relatively high incidence of thyroid dysfunction. Clinically significant arrhythmia tended to be induced more frequently in the thyroid dysfunction group than in the euthyroidism group. Further investigations are needed to verify the clinical implications of TFT in patients with SVT other than AF.

Keywords

• Thyroid function
• Palpitation
• Tachyarrhythmia
• Electrophysiology