Referral patterns and Outcome of Children with Perceived Arrhythmia to a Tertiary Cardiac Service

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Arrhythmias are common in pediatric population and is suspected in patients presenting with palpitations and/or syncope. These patients are commonly referred to Pediatric Cardiology for further evaluation either after identifying rhythm abnormality or based on clinical suspicion only. The objective of this study was to assess the yield of pediatric cardiology referrals for arrhythmia evaluation. Methods: This is a single-center retrospective observational descriptive study. A total of 486 patients referred to the pediatric cardiology department from the year 1998 to 2020 were included. Patients were grouped based on referral, Group 1 consisted of patients referred with documented arrhythmia and Group 2 had patients referred on clinical suspicion. Patient’s age at presentation, gender, reason for referral, type of arrhythmias, any associated structural heart disease, interventions, and outcomes were analysed. Results: Group 1 had 156 (32.1%) patients and group 2 had 330 (67.9%) patients. The most common diagnosis in group 1 was atrioventricular re-entry tachycardia and in group 2 was premature ventricular contractions. There was no variability for the type of arrhythmia between the two groups. Among patients in group 2, 315 (95.4%) had no evidence of electrophysiological abnormalities. Positivity rates for arrhythmia were only 3.2% for palpitations and 9% for syncope. 28 (5.8 %) patients required interventions; all from group 1. Conclusion: Clinically significant arrhythmias were mostly diagnosed at the point of first contact. Patients referred on clinical suspicion were mostly normal electro-physiologically. Inappropriate referrals increase the workload on pediatric cardiology services. There is an urgent need to regularise referrals.