Transient overdrive pacing upon standing prevents orthostatic hypotension in elderly pacemaker patients with...

Elderly pacemaker patients with chronotropic incompetence (CI) may experience orthostatic hypotension (OH) upon standing. The objective of this study was to determine whether a transient increase in heart rate (HR) by overdrive pacing upon standing prevents OH in elderly pacemaker patients.

We studied the effect of transient overdrive pacing upon standing in mitigating the drop in blood pressure (BP) in 62 pacemaker patients (77 +/- 6 years, 32 F) implanted with DDD pacemaker for sick sinus syndrome (n = 40) or atrioventricular block (n = 22). All patients underwent two standing procedures in random order: a control, with backup (60 bpm) pacing and another with overdrive DDD pacing (at 35 bpm above their baseline rate) for 2 minutes upon standing. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and HR were measured while supine (baseline) and 1, 2, and 3 minutes after standing. OH was defined as a drop in SBP > or = 20 mmHg or DBP > or = 10 mmHg during standing. Chronotropic incompetence (CI) was defined as an absence of HR increase of > or = 10 bpm during standing.

A total of 17 (27%) patients developed OH upon standing during backup pacing. Baseline clinical characteristics (age, sex, prevalence of diabetes, use of vasoactive medications, and sick sinus syndrome) were similar between patients with or without OH. In patients with or without OH, transient overdrive pacing upon standing increased HR and DBP as compared with baseline (P < 0.05). However, in patients with OH, transient overdrive pacing did not prevent decrease in SBP upon standing and avoided the development of OH in only 10/17 patients (59%). Among those patients with OH, 10/17 (59%) patients had CI. In OH patients with CI, transient overdrive pacing upon standing maintained SBP and DBP as compared to baseline and prevented OH in the majority of patients (80%). By contrast, transient overdrive pacing in OH patients without CI had no significant effect on the decrease in SBP upon standing and prevented OH in only 20% of patients.

OH is common (27%) in the elderly pacemaker population. In a subgroup of these patients, CI may be responsible for the occurrence of OH, and OH can be prevented by transient overdrive pacing upon standing.