Background: The exact world-wide prevalence of Brugada electrocardiogram (ECG) pattern is still unclear, especially in adults aged 55 years and older. Methods: The study was conducted as part of the Healthy Aging Longitudinal Study (HALST) in Taiwan. Using a stratified random sampled method, a sample of community-dwelling subjects was recruited from seven community-based regions across Taiwan. All enrolled subjects were follow-up annually and cause of death was documented by citizen death records. Results: A total of 5214 subjects were enrolled (male/female: 2530/2684) with a mean age of 69±8 years. The overall prevalence of Brugada ECG patterns was 3.32%. Four subjects carried spontaneous type 1 Brugada ECG pattern, 68 carried type 2, and 101 carried type 3. Compared to the world-wide average prevalence of Brugada ECG patterns, the prevalence of spontaneous type 1 Brugada ECG pattern in subjects from the HALST cohort was similar (0.077% vs. 0.07%) and the combined prevalence of type 2 and type 3 Brugada ECG pattern was 10 times higher (3.24% vs. 0.28%) even the mean age of study subjects was significantly higher (69±8 vs 35±8, P<0.001). However, all-cause and cardiovascular mortality rates were not significantly different between subjects with or without Brugada ECG patterns during the 4-year follow-up (log-rank test, P=0.21, 0.24, respectively). Conclusion: The prevalence of Brugada ECG pattern in adults aged 55 years and older in Taiwan was higher than the average world-wide prevalence but was not associated with increased mortality.
