Arrhythmia Profile in Children Presenting at a Tertiary Care Centre in India - From Fetal Life to Fifteen Years of Age

Many of the arrhythmias tend to be asymptomatic and detected incidentally, while some others may be picked up too late after a catastrophic presentation. The goal of this study was to document the arrhythmia profile in children presenting to our tertiary care hospital in India. We also reviewed the early and late outcomes of arrhythmias in these patients (including in isolated and post cardiac surgical patients). Amongst 100 patients with arrhythmias, 35% were detected incidentally for presentations like breathlessness (29%) and refusal to feed. A majority of patients (70%) did not have any underlying structural defect and had no cardiomegaly on chest X-Ray. Of those with structural defects, 90% were congenital with the majority being acyanotic (58%) and would have gone clinically undetected. 19 children (20%) presented with heart failure. Tachyarrhythmias (61%) were more common, and all the immediate deaths were from this group. Bradyarrhythmias were mostly complete heart blocks. Almost half the patients required emergency antiarrhythmics. Holter study was done to check for antiarrhythmic efficacy and to decide regarding pacing. In 48% cases, clinical management was changed based on the Holter report. Almost half the patients required emergency antiarrhythmics (adenosine, isoprenaline, amiodarone). The long-term outcomes were favorable with 50% of the patients not requiring long term antiarrhythmics and most remained asymptomatic. The need for interventional therapy like pacemaker insertion and radiofrequency ablation was less than 2%. Arrythmias in children have varied symptoms and pediatricians need to be aware about this. With optimal management, long term outcomes for these children are usually favorable