Influence of left ventricular ejection fraction, type of mutation and sex on malignant ventricular arrhythmias in dsp and flnc mutations
Authors: Perez-Ferrandiz A , Calzada-Paton M , Colomer-Gomez J L , Alfaro-Paniagua I , Vicedo-Lopez A , Martinez-Rey-Ranal E , Bertomeu-Gonzalez V , Moreno-Arribas J , Heras-Herreros S , Monteagudo-Viana M , Quintanilla-Tello M A , Masia-Mondejar M D , Frutos-Garcia A , Cordero-Fort A , Lopez-Ayala J M 
Published: November 2023

Introduction

Pathogenic mutations in FLNC and DSP are a common cause of arrhythmogenic left ventricular cardiomyopathy and "arrhythmic dilated cardiomyopathy". We aimed to study demographic and clinical differences amongst these carriers.

Purpose

1. To study the prevalence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias in DSP and FLNC mutation carriers in the studies and reports published in the literature.

2. To analyse the effect of age, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and sex on ventricular arrhythmias in both groups.

Methods

A systematic review of the human studies published in Medline and EMBASE until September 2022 was carried out. "Desmoplakin Mutations", "Filamin Mutations", "Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy" and "Dilated Cardiomyopathy" were the keywords included in the search queries. Studies, family reports, and registries reporting on individual data of pathogenic or likely pathogenic mutation carriers were selected for analysis.

Results

Twenty-four articles published between 2002 and 2020 were selected from a total of 430 entries. 171 DSP carriers (from 16 studies) and 169 FLNC carriers (from 7 studies) were included in the analysis. Mean age was similar in both groups: 39.45±19.23 years in DSP vs 42.02±16.27 in the FLNC group (p:0.201). The proportion of females was higher among DSP carriers than that found among FLNC carriers: 101 (59%) vs 76 (45%), p: 0.012. Non-missense mutations were more frequent in both groups: 98 DSP carriers (57%) and 157 FLNC carriers (97%). LVEF was slightly more depressed amongst FLNC carriers: 47.75±14.94% vs 52.37±14.64%, p:0.014.

A total of 81 major arrhythmic events (sudden death, ventricular fibrillation, sustained ventricular tachycardia were reported. The LVEF of the male patients that had suffered a major event was similar in both groups (39.13±18.20% in DSP vs 39.03±12.24% in FLNC, p:0.987). On the contrary, LVEF was significantly lower in female carriers of DSP mutations (32.33±15.65% in DSP vs 47.60±15.88% in FLNC, p:0.050).

Male carriers show a worse prognosis than their female counterparts (log-rank 0.005) (Figure). The difference was not significant after adjusting for LVEF and type of mutation (missense vs non-missense). LVEF (HR 0.94 per percentage unit (0.91-0.96), p &lt;0.001) and non-missense mutations (HR 0.21 (0.07-0.66), p:0.008) were inversely associated with adverse outcomes in DSP carriers in a multivariate analysis. LVEF was also associated with a better outcome in FLNC carriers (HR 0.97 (0.95-0.99), p: 0.019.

Conclusion

Moderate systolic dysfunction is a risk factor for malignant arrhythmias amongst DSP and FLNC mutation carriers. Female FLNC carriers with mild systolic dysfunction are at risk for sustained ventricular arrhythmias. Missense DSP mutations are associated with poor arrhythmic prognosis.Sex differences in survival