EU researchers explore how drugs can damage heartbeats

Published: 9-Dec-2013

Aritmo project assesses impact of antipsychotics, antihistamines and anti-infectives


A European Union (EU)-funded research project has been assessing the potential of drugs to damage slow heartbeats, potentially causing heart attacks.

A final report is awaited from the €3.6m Aritmo project, which has assessed the impact of antipsychotics, antihistamines and anti-infectives.

A project note said the ability of 'some compounds to prolong the QT interval of the electrocardiogram and to precipitate Torsade de Pointes (TdP, a potentially fatal arrhythmia) has caused several regulatory interventions, including drug withdrawals'. It also said that healthcare databases with information on 27 million patients in five countries would be interrogated to calculate 'risks of arrhythmic events during drug use'.

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