Long-term follow-up of patients from a randomised trial of atrial versus ventricular pacing for sick-sinus syndrome.

Abstract

In a previous study of 225 patients with sick-sinus syndrome randomised to either single-chamber atrial pacing (n=110) or single-chamber ventricular pacing (n=115), we found that after a mean follow-up of 3.3 years, atrial pacing was associated with significantly less atrial fibrillation and thromboembolism whereas there was no significant difference in mortality and heart failure between the two groups. We aimed to find out whether this beneficial effect of atrial pacing is maintained during extended follow-up of up to 8 years.