Increasing trend in ventricular tachycardia related mortality: Cause or effect?

Ventricular tachycardia is a major cause of sudden death. Several pharmacological and device-based therapies in recent years have delayed the progression of heart failure and have improved survival. A new study reveals a significant increase in age-adjusted mortality from ventricular tachycardia over the past 13 years, with higher mortality in men, black Americans and patients from the Southern United States. These findings reinforce the previous observations made on the influence of age, gender, ethnicity and geography on cardiovascular outcomes. The use of ICD 10 codes to ascertain cause of death limits differentiation between ventricular tachycardia as the true underlying mechanism leading to death and the presence of ventricular tachycardia in patients dying from other causes. While the insights gained from the report on contemporary ventricular tachycardia related mortality in the general population with cardiovascular disease is hypothesis generating, further studies are needed to delineate ventricular tachycardia as a proximate cause of death from an association.