Prolonged PR interval and incidence of atrial fibrillation, heart failure admissions, and mortality in patients with implanted cardiac devices: A real-world

BACKGROUND Prolongation of the PR interval has long been considered a benign condition, particularly in the setting of nonstructural heart disease. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of PR interval on various well-adjudicated cardiovascular outcomes using a large real-world population data of patients with implanted dual-chamber permanent pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. METHODS PR intervals were measured during remote transmissions in patients with implanted permanent pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. Study endpoints (time to the first occur-rence of AF, heart failure hospitalization [HFH], or death) were ob-tained between January 2007 and June 2019 from the deidentified Optum de-identified Electronic Health Record dataset. RESULTS A total of 25,752 patients (age 69.3 +/- 13.9 years; 58% male) were evaluated. The average intrinsic PR interval was 185 +/- 55 ms. In the subset of 16,730 patients with available longColumbia University Irving Medical Center, 177 Fort Washington Avenue, New York, NY 10032