Click here to read how our CredibleCDS™ uses the CredibleMeds® QTdrugs list to alert physicians when their patients are at increased risk of sudden death.

How is the QTdrugs List being used to assess the contribution of QT prolonging drugs to All-cause Mortality?

Straus et al. extracted a list of non-cardiac drugs that prolong QT from the CredibleMeds.org website in order to examine all-cause mortality in a population-based, case–control study.  They found an approximately threefold greater risk of death (95% CI 1.6–4.7) among patients who had been treated with the non-cardiac, QT-prolonging drugs listed in the CredibleMeds.org database. On the basis of this analysis, the investigators estimated that the use of these drugs causes >15,000 deaths annually in the USA and Europe.  Click here for PubMed Abstract.

How is the QTdrugs List being used to assess Healthcare Quality and Prescribing Practices?

van der Sijs and colleagues investigated whether physicians who had prescribed two drugs from the CredibleMeds.org QTdrugs List and then ignored a drug-QTDrug interaction alert for QT prolongation, subsequently ordered an ECG for the patient. The researchers found that 33% of patients did not have an ECG; however excessive QT prolongation (>75 ms increase) was seen in 31% of those who did have an ECG. In their report, van der Sijs et al. cite the importance of the CredibleMeds.org lists for their drug safety program and pharmacovigilance efforts. Click here for PubMed Abstract.

How is the QTdrugs List being used as references for Optimal Prescribing?

The Medical Letter and major textbooks of medicine cite the QTdrugs List as a resource for prescribers when making prescribing decisions.

How is the QTdrugs List being used in Regulatory Agency Decision Making?

New Zealand's federal Medicines Safety Authority cites the QTdrugs List that is maintained on CredibleMeds.org as a resource for the Authority’s evaluation of the safety of anti-depressants that prolong the QT interval.  Click here for a sample report.