Age of First Arrhythmic Event in Brugada Syndrome:
Data from the Survey on Arrhythmic Events in Brugada Syndrome (SABRUS) in 678 Patients

Background. Data on the age at the first arrhythmic event (AE) in Brugada syndrome (BrS) are from limited patient cohorts. The aim of this study is twofold: 1) define the age of first AE in a large cohort of BrS patients; 2) assess the influence of the mode of AE documentation, gender and ethnicity on the age of first AE.

Methods and Results. A survey of 23 centers from 10 Western and 4 Asian countries gathered data from 678 BrS patients (91.3% males) with first AE documented at time of aborted cardiac arrest (Group A, n=426) or after prophylactic ICD implantation (Group B, n=252). The vast majority (94.2%) of the patients were 16-70 years old at the time of AE while pediatric (70 years) comprised 4.3% and 1.5%, respectively. Age at time of AE had a peak incidence between 38-48 years (mean 41.9+14.8 years, range 0.27 to 84 years). Group A were younger than Group B by a mean of 6.7 years (46.1+13.2 vs. 39.4+15.0 years, P<0.001). In adult patients (>16 years) females experienced AE 6.5 years later than males (P=0.003). Caucasians and Asians exhibited their AE at the same median age (43 years).

Conclusions. SABRUS presents the first analysis of the age distribution of AE in BrS suggesting 2 age cut-offs (16 and 70 years) that might be important for decision-making. It also allows gaining insights on the influence of mode of arrhythmia documentation, patient gender and ethnic origin on the age of AE.