Table 3.

Data on drugs taken in all patients diagnosed with ‘Ventricular arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death’ and ‘all possible torsades without conduction defect/atrial fibrillation or myocardial infarction’

Drug class	Possible torsades (PVT or syncope and PVC) + LQT	Coded ‘ventricular arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death’
Class III antiarrhythmics
Amiodarone	10	58
Amiodarone combinations	11	11
β-Blocker (sotalol; acebutolol, atenolol, bisoprolol)	8	22
β-Blocker combinations	3	3
Other cardiovascular drugs:
Digoxin	2	6
Digoxin combinations digoxin + flecainide or disopyramide (Class 1 antiarrhythmic)	2	2
ACE/ACE inhibitor + diuretic (benazepril + hydrochlorothiazide)	2	2
Class 1 antiarrhythmic (flecainide quinidine/hydroxyquinidine)	3	11
Class 1 antiarrhythmic combinations	1	1
Calcium channel antagonist (bepridil)	2	2
Other antihypertensives: vincamine (alkaloid), urapidil, alphagan (α-blocker)	1	3
Diuretic-(furosemide)	0	1
Other drugs:
H1 antihistamine (alimemazine)	0	1
Anti-infectious drugs (clofamizine, lomefloxacine, itraconazole)	2	4
COX-2 inhibitor (celecoxib)	1	1
Neuroleptics (amisulpride, thiorazidine, periciazine)	1	8
Antiepileptic (sodium valproate)	1	1
SSRI antidepressant (fluvoxamine)	0	1
Benzodiazepine	1	1
No drug	1	1
Data unavailable or not requested as other exclusion criteria	3	721
Total	55	861

PVC, premature ventricular contraction; PVT, polymorphic ventricular tachycardia; ACE angiotensin converting enzyme; COX, cyclooxygenase; SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.