OBJECTIVE: To study patients with permanent cardiac pacemakers, comparing the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with Chagas' disease versus the ones with degenerative or ischemic diseases. METHOD: 57,632 procedures performed from 1995 to 2003, registered in the Brazilian Pacemaker Register were analyzed: 25,648 patients with Chagas' disease and 31,984 with degenerative or ischemic bradiarrythmias. The comparison of the characteristics of these two populations included Chi-square and t-Student tests, with a 5% level of significance. RESULTS: There was a predominance of the Chagas' disease in the Centar-west region, in the initial implantations. In re-operations, the population with Chagas' disease represented majority in the Southeast, too. Mean age was 59.3 ± 15.3 and 58.6 ± 14.8, respectively for initial implantations and re-operations in Chagas' disease patients and 73.5 ± 12.6 and 73.7 ± 13.5, in non Chagas'disease patients. There was no difference in respect to both genders and etiology. Syncope episodes and 3rd degree AV block with wide QRS were more frequent in patients with Chagas' disease, and dizziness, heart failure and 3rd degree AV block with in the other patients. Ventricular pacing systems were used in 60% and 63% in the initial implants and 77% and 76% of the reoperations, respectively for Chagas' and non-Chagas' disease patients. The need to change the batteries was the main reason for reoperations in 76.1% and 79.6% of these procedures, respectively for patients with Chagas' disease and the other causes of bradicardia. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of data of these two populations demonstrated significant differences in the clinical and demographic characteristics.
Cardiac Pacing, artificial; Chagas Disease; Bradycardia; Medical Records Systems Computerized
