Pharmacology of Antiarrhythmic Drugs in Elderly Patients

• Autores: William H. Frishman, Wilbert S. Aronow
• Localización: Clinics in geriatric medicine, ISSN 0749-0690, Vol. 28, Nº. 4, 2012, págs. 575-615
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Bradyarrhythmias and tachyarrhythmias are common in elderly patients as a result of aging and acquired cardiac disease. Antiarrhythmic drugs are effective in elderly patients for the management of supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias; however, dosing of drugs must be performed with care because of age-related changes in drug pharmacokinetics, the presence of concomitant disease, and frequent drug-drug interactions. Despite the large number of antiarrhythmic drugs having different electrophysiologic actions, as described in this article, only the ?-blockers have been shown to be effective in reducing mortality and to lack proarrhythmic actions.