TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of non-right-handedness on risk for sudden death associated with coronary artery disease
AU - Lane, Richard D.
AU - Caruso, Anthony C.
AU - Brown, Victoria L.
AU - Axelrod, Beatrice
AU - Schwartz, Gary E.
AU - Sechrest, Lee
AU - Marcus, Frank I.
N1 - Funding Information:
From the Departments of Psychiatry, Medicine (Section of Cardiology), Neurology and Psychology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid, AZG-55 93, from The American Heart Association, with funds contributed in part by the Arizona Affiliate. Manuscript received February 17, 1994; revised manuscript received and accepted May 2, 1994.
PY - 1994/10/15
Y1 - 1994/10/15
N2 - The hypothesis that non-right-handedness is associated with sudden cardiac death was tested based on evidence that sympathetic imbalance may contribute to ventricular arrhythmogenesis and evidence that left-handers may have a shorter lifespan than right-handers. The study included 26 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), a history of ventricular tachycardia-ventricular fibrillation (VT-VF), and implanted defibrillators, and 26 patients with CAD and no history of serious arrhythmias who were matched for age, sex, and New York Heart Association functional class. Patients with any history of neurologic disorders were excluded. Left-handers either wrote with the left hand or were converted from left- to right-handedness in childhood. Nonright-handers used the left hand for writing, drawing, or throwing. Handedness rates in patients with VT-VF and case-control subjects were compared with published norms in the general population to take expected rates into account. The rates of left-handedness (6 of 26 or 23.1%) and non-right-handedness (9 of 26 or 34.6%) in patients with VT-VF were significantly higher (p < 0.003 and p < 0.0001, 2-tailed, respectively) than those of similarly aged adults in the general population (left-handedness, 5%; nonright-handedness, 10.2%). The rates of left-handedness (2 of 26 or 7.7%) and non-right-handedness (4 of 26 or 15.4%) observed in the case-control group correspond closely to the expected values for that group (left-handedness, 1.3 of 26 or 5%; non-right-handedness, 2.65 of 26 or 10.2%) derived from the general population rates and were not significantly different from them. If these findings are confirmed in a prospective study, non-right-handedness should be considered a risk factor for sudden death in the context of CAD.
AB - The hypothesis that non-right-handedness is associated with sudden cardiac death was tested based on evidence that sympathetic imbalance may contribute to ventricular arrhythmogenesis and evidence that left-handers may have a shorter lifespan than right-handers. The study included 26 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), a history of ventricular tachycardia-ventricular fibrillation (VT-VF), and implanted defibrillators, and 26 patients with CAD and no history of serious arrhythmias who were matched for age, sex, and New York Heart Association functional class. Patients with any history of neurologic disorders were excluded. Left-handers either wrote with the left hand or were converted from left- to right-handedness in childhood. Nonright-handers used the left hand for writing, drawing, or throwing. Handedness rates in patients with VT-VF and case-control subjects were compared with published norms in the general population to take expected rates into account. The rates of left-handedness (6 of 26 or 23.1%) and non-right-handedness (9 of 26 or 34.6%) in patients with VT-VF were significantly higher (p < 0.003 and p < 0.0001, 2-tailed, respectively) than those of similarly aged adults in the general population (left-handedness, 5%; nonright-handedness, 10.2%). The rates of left-handedness (2 of 26 or 7.7%) and non-right-handedness (4 of 26 or 15.4%) observed in the case-control group correspond closely to the expected values for that group (left-handedness, 1.3 of 26 or 5%; non-right-handedness, 2.65 of 26 or 10.2%) derived from the general population rates and were not significantly different from them. If these findings are confirmed in a prospective study, non-right-handedness should be considered a risk factor for sudden death in the context of CAD.
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U2 - 10.1016/0002-9149(94)90426-X
DO - 10.1016/0002-9149(94)90426-X
M3 - Article
C2 - 7942541
AN - SCOPUS:0028027759
SN - 0002-9149
VL - 74
SP - 743
EP - 747
JO - The American Journal of Cardiology
JF - The American Journal of Cardiology
IS - 8
ER -