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.
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.
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.