The QTc-Bazett Interval in Former Very Preterm Infants in Adolescence and Young Adulthood is Not Different from Term-Born Controls

Abstract

Introduction: Although relevant for precision pharmacovigilance, there are conflicting data on whether former preterm birth is associated with QTc-Bazett prolongation in later life. Methods: To explore QTc-Bazett interval differences between former preterm and/or extremely low birth weight (ELBW) cases and term-born controls in adolescence and young adulthood, we analyzed pooled individual data after a structured search on published cohorts. To test the absence of a QTc-Bazett difference, a non-inferiority approach was applied (one-sided, upper limit of the 95% confidence interval [CI] mean QTc-Bazett difference, 5 and 10 ms). We also investigated the impact of characteristics, either perinatal or at assessment, on QTc-Bazett in the full dataset (cases and controls). Data were reported as median and range. Results: The pooled dataset contained 164 former preterm and/or ELBW (cases) and 140 controls born full-term from three studies. The median QTc-Bazett intervals were 409 (335–490) and 410 (318–480) ms in cases and controls. The mean QTc-Bazett difference was 1 ms, with an upper 95% CI of 6 ms (p > 0.05 and p < 0.01 for 5 and 10 ms, respectively). In the full dataset, females had a significantly longer QTc-Bazett than males (415 vs. 401 ms; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: QTc-Bazett intervals are not significantly different between former preterm and/or ELBW cases and term-born controls, and we rejected a potential prolongation > 10 ms in cases. When prescribing QTc-prolonging drugs, pharmacovigilance practices in this subpopulation should be similar to the general public (NCT05243537).