Intermediate-term mortality and incidence of ICD therapy in octogenarians after cardiac resynchronization therapy

Background Clinical outcomes of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in patients over the age of 80 have not been well described. Methods We retrospectively identified 96 consecutive patients ? 80 years old who underwent an initial implant or an upgrade to CRT, with or without defibrillator (CRT-D vs. CRT-P), at our institution between January 2003 and July 2008. The control cohort consisted of 177 randomly selected patients Results In the octogenarian cohort, mean age at CRT implant was 83.1 ± 2.9 years vs. 60.1 ± 8.8 years among controls (P vs. 37%, P vs. 19%, P vs. 27%, P = 0.02) whereas the rate of inappropriate shocks was similar (3% vs. 6%, P = 0.55). At 36 months, there was no significant difference in the rate of all-cause mortality between octogenarians (11%) and controls (8%,P = 0.381). Conclusion Appropriately selected octogenarians who are candidates for CRT have similar intermediate-term mortality compared to younger patients receiving CRT.