Digoxin Beneficial for Infants Palliated With Stage 1 Hybrid Procedure

THURSDAY, Jan. 4, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- For infants palliated with a stage 1 hybrid procedure, digoxin prescription at discharge is associated with a reduced risk for interstage death or transplant, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Reshma K. Reddy, M.D., from the Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and colleagues conducted a retrospective multicenter cohort study using data from the National Pediatric Cardiology Quality Improvement Collaborative registry from 2008 to 2021 to examine whether digoxin prescription at discharge was associated with improved transplant-free interstage survival in infants following hybrid stage 1 palliation. A total of 259 infants were included from 45 sites; 61 percent had hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

Fifty percent of the infants were discharged on digoxin. The researchers found that 23 and 14 percent of patients in the no-digoxin and digoxin groups, respectively, had interstage death or transplant. Discharge digoxin prescription was associated with a reduced risk for interstage death or transplant in a multivariate analysis (adjusted odds ratio, 0.48).

"Based on these findings, it is reasonable to consider prescribing digoxin to infants who have undergone the stage 1 palliation hybrid procedure," the authors write.

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