The ventricular paced QT interval--the effects of rate and exercise

Changes in the QT and QTc intervals in 19 patients were studied at a ventricular paced rate difference of 50 beats/min. In all patients the measured QT interval shortened as the pacing rate was increased, from a mean value of 441 ms to 380 ms (p less than 0.001), but when corrected for heart rate the QTc lengthened from a mean value of 518 ms to 575 ms. In 11 patients the QT interval was measured at rest and immediately following exercise sufficient to increase the atrial rate by approximately 50 beats/min at identical ventricular paced rates. In all patients exercise-induced QT interval shortening from a mean value of 433 ms to 399 ms (p less than 0.001). These results show first that Bazett's formula is unsuitable for correction of QT interval induced by ventricular pacing, and second that heart rate and changes in sympathetic tone independently influence the duration of the QT interval. It is suggested that these results are relevant to the design of physiological pacemakers in which the duration of the QT interval influences the discharge frequency of the pacemaker and to the consideration of ventricular pacing for the treatment of abnormal repolarization syndromes.