QT-Prolonging Medications and Major Adverse Cardiac Events

Some medications affect the QT interval of the heartbeat and can result in major heart events, which can lead to death. It is unclear exactly how much medications compared to other risk factors contribute to these outcomes and when they will occur. This research project will use data from St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s (SJHH) Dovetale-Epic electronic medical record (EMR). Patients who were or were not taking medications that affect the heartbeat and experienced serious heart events will be identified. The data will be validated, which will develop a process for validating EMR data and better explain how EMR data fields are linked. This will help SJHH’s Digital Solutions team and researchers better use EMR data for future projects. After data validation, machine learning will be used to predict the importance of medications and risk factors for these serious heart events, which can improve medication alerts for clinicians and patient outcomes.

Faculty Supervisor:

Anne Holbrook

Student:

Partner:

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

McMaster University

Program: