Microvolt T-wave alternans as a predictor of mortality and severe arrhythmias in patients with left-ventricular dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 1 Characteristics of prospective cohort studies examining microvolt T-wave alternans and baseline patient characteristics

Study	Population	Sample Size	Men (%)	Age (Mean ± SD, years)	LVEF (mean ± SD, %)	Follow-Up (mean ± SD, months)	Quality Score*
Chow 2006 [18]	ICM	768	84	67	27	18 ± 10	good
Bloomfield 2006 [6]	DCM	549	71	56 ± 10	25 ± 6	20 ± 6	good
Grimm 2003 [19]	ICD and LV > 56 mm	263	73	48 ± 12	30 ± 10	52 ± 21	good
Klingenheben 2000 [22]	CHF	107	80	56 ± 10	28 ± 7	15	good
Ikeda 2000 [20]	Post-MI	102	83	60 ± 9	NR	13 ± 6	moderate
Kitamura 2002 [21]	DCM	83^†	81	52 ± 15	NR	21 ± 14	moderate
Sarzi Braga 2004 [24]	CHF	44^†	89	59 ± 9	29 ± 7	19 ± 11	moderate
Sakabe 2001 [23]	DCM	30^†	91	53 ± 16	33 ± 15	13 ± 11	moderate

Abbreviations: CHF: congestive heart failure; DCM: dilated cardiomyopathy; ICM: ischemic cardiomyopathy; ICD: implantable cardioverter defibrillator; LV: left ventricular end-diastolic volume; LVEF: left ventricular ejection fraction; MI: myocardial infarction; NR: not reported.
* Quality was assessed using an 7-item quality assessment score [see Additional file 1]. Good quality was defined as a score of 6–7, moderate quality was defined as a score of 4–5, and poor quality was defined as a score of 1–3.
† The sample sizes reported in the table represent the number of patients included in the analyses. A number of studies enrolled patients who were subsequently excluded from the analyses. The other numbers are based on the number of patients enrolled. These studies include Kitamura (104 patients enrolled)[21], Sarzi Braga (46 patients enrolled) [24], and Sakabe (34 patients enrolled)[23].

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