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Patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and additional risk factors for sudden cardiac death (SCD) — including family history of SCD, syncope, massive hypertrophy, nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, or hypotensive response to exercise — are considered to be candidates for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator placement. Risk assessment is based on patient populations that have typically been young; however, as a result of improvements in diagnosis and treatment, HCM is increasingly identified in middle age and beyond.
To evaluate the effects of older age on risk for SCD, investigators used registry data from two large HCM centers to assess outcomes in 428 consecutive patients aged ≥60 at initial referral (mean age at diagnosis, 6…