Abstract 19486: Younger Age at Time of Pacemaker Implantation is Associated With Worse Survival

Background: Pacemakers are the mainstay treatment for symptomatic bradycardia but pacing from the right ventricle apex can cause deleterious ventricular dysynchrony and lead to heart failure and increased risk for atrial and ventricular arrhythmia. The aim of this large observational population cohort study was to investigate firstly the effect of pacing on survival and secondly if survival was determined by age at the time of implant. Methods: This study was done in Tayside, Scotland (population approximately 400 000) using data linked anonymously by a community health index number from the Tayside Pacing Registry (1993–2009), the Tayside echocardiogram database (> 90,000 echos), dispensed prescribing database and outcome data maintained by the Health Informatics Centre (HIC). Observed survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Age- and sex-matched cohorts from the Tayside population were used for expected survival. Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine the effects pacemaker insertio...