Comparison of lead failure and non-failure cohorts
Comparison of the ICD lead failure and non-failure cohorts was performed for baseline patient characteristics (table 2) . There was a significantly higher proportion of female (50% vs 18.8%, p=0.01) and hypertensive patients (90% vs 54%, p=0.03) in the lead failure group. There was a trend toward patients of higher body mass index (BMI) (31.7 vs 27.4, p=0.17) and toward a longer implantation procedure duration (139.1 vs 126.5 minutes, p=0.62) in the lead failure group. A similar proportion of ICD leads were implanted via the cephalic in lead failure and non-failed groups (90% vs 72%, p=0.24). When the ICD lead was implanted via the cephalic vein, a statistically similar number of leads were implanted via this route concomitantly, in both cohorts (2.89 vs 2.83, lead failure vs non-failure, respectively, p=0.59).