Effects of Domperidone on QT Interval in Children with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.

Background: Domperidone has been widely used in children with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Studies on the effects of domperidone on corrected QT interval (QTc) in young children are limited. Our aim was to study the effect of domperidone on the repolarization abnormalities assessed by electrocardiogram (ECG) in young children.

Methods: ECG was performed in children <2 years of age before and after taking domperidone orally 0.3 mg/kg three times/day for at least a 1 week period. Each ECG was reviewed and QT, RR, and Tpeak to Tend intervals (TpTe) were measured to calculate the QTc and TpTe/QT ratio.

Results: A total of 22 patients (12 male) with a median age of 8.5 months (1-24 months) were enrolled. Most patients (59.1%) were under 1 year of age. The median baseline QTc (410 milliseconds, 350-450 milliseconds) was not significantly different from the QTc after taking domperidone (410 milliseconds, 320-560 milliseconds), p = 0.159. Only two patients showed a QTc increase ≥450 milliseconds. The baseline TpTe interval and TpTe/QT (105 milliseconds, 60-170 milliseconds and 0.27 milliseconds, 0.15-0.43 milliseconds) were significantly greater than the TpTe interval and TpTe/QT in children after taking domperidone (90 milliseconds, 60-140 milliseconds and 0.22 milliseconds, 0.15-0.29 milliseconds), p = 0.001 and 0.004, respectively.

Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that domperidone treatment over a short-term period in children <2 years of age did not lengthen QTc significantly; however, QTc increased ≥450 milliseconds in two patients with concomitant lansoprazole. Routine baseline and follow-up ECG may not be necessary in each individual case receiving only domperidone.