ArticleHeart (British Cardiac Society)2007
Syncope and QT prolongation among patients treated with methadone for heroin dependence in the city of Copenhagen.
Article in Heart (British Cardiac Society), 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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45 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 145 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance dependence: Recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium Guideline for CYP2B6 Genotype and Methadone Therapy.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2024Guideline
- QTc interval screening for cardiac risk in methadone treatment of opioid dependence.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- QT interval screening in methadone maintenance treatment: report of a SAMHSA expert panel.Journal of addictive diseases · 2011Guideline
- Effects of disulfiram on QTc interval in non-opioid-dependent and methadone-treated cocaine-dependent patients.Journal of addiction medicineTrial
- Single-dose intraoperative methadone and QTc interval: a prospective observational cohort investigation.British journal of anaesthesia · 2026Observational
- Methadone administration and QT interval prolongation: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia and Torsades in Methadone Therapy Captured by Loop Recorder.JACC. Case reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Association of a CommonJournal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Opioid use is associated with increased out-of-hospital cardiac arrest risk among 40 000-cases across two countries.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022Article
- Effects of opioid receptor agonist and antagonist medications on electrocardiogram changes and presentation of cardiac arrhythmia: review article.Journal of interventional cardiac electrophysiology : an international journal of arrhythmias and pacing · 2022Review
- The Risk of Ventricular Dysrhythmia or Sudden Death in Patients Receiving Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors With Methadone: A Population-Based Study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Loss of Consciousness in the Young Child.Pediatric cardiology · 2021Review
- Adherence among HIV-positive injection drug users undergoing methadone treatment in Taiwan.BMC psychiatry · 2020Article
- Rapid transition from methadone to buprenorphine using naltrexone-induced withdrawal: A case report.Substance abuse · 2019Article
- Opioids and Cardiac Arrhythmia: A Literature Review.Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre · 2018Review
- Risk-factors for methadone-specific deaths in Scotland's methadone-prescription clients between 2009 and 2013.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2016Article
- The Impact of Opioids on Cardiac Electrophysiology.Current cardiology reviews · 2016Review
- A Possible Mechanistic Link Between the CYP2C19 Genotype, the Methadone Metabolite Ethylidene-1,5-Dimethyl-3,3-Diphenylpyrrolidene (EDDP), and Methadone-Induced Corrected QT Interval Prolongation in a Pilot Study.Molecular diagnosis & therapy · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMethadone is prescribed to heroin addicts to decrease illicit opioid use. Prolongation of the QT interval in the ECG of patients with torsade de pointes (TdP) has been reported in methadone users. As heroin addicts sometimes faint while using illicit drugs, doctors might attribute too many episodes of syncope to illicit drug use and thereby underestimate the incidence of TdP in this special population, and the high mortality in this population may, in part, be caused by the proarrhythmic effect of methadone.
methodsIn this cross-sectional study interview, ECGs and blood samples were collected in a population of adult heroin addicts treated with methadone or buprenorphine on a daily basis. Of the patients at the Drug Addiction Service in the municipal of Copenhagen, 450 (approximately 52%) were included. The QT interval was estimated from 12 lead ECGs. All participants were interviewed about any experience of syncope. The association between opioid dose and QT, and methadone dose and reporting of syncope was assessed using multivariate linear regression and logistic regression, respectively.
resultsMethadone dose was associated with longer QT interval of 0.140 ms/mg (p = 0.002). No association between buprenorphine and QTc was found. Among the subjects treated with methadone, 28% men and 32% women had prolonged QTc interval. None of the subjects treated with buprenorphine had QTc interval >0.440 s((1/2)). A 50 mg higher methadone dose was associated with a 1.2 (95% CI 1.1 to 1.4) times higher odds for syncope.
conclusionsMethadone is associated with QT prolongation and higher reporting of syncope in a population of heroin addicts.
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