Editing Clarithromycin (section)

===Cardiac===
In February 2018, the US [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) issued a safety communication warning with respect to an increased risk for heart problems or death with the use of clarithromycin, and has recommended that alternative antibiotics be considered in those with heart disease.<ref name="FDA">{{cite web|title=Safety Alerts for Human Medical Products - Clarithromycin (Biaxin): Drug Safety Communication - Potential Increased Risk of Heart Problems or Death in Patients With Heart Disease|url=https://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm597862.htm|website=U.S. [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA)|access-date=24 February 2018|archive-date=24 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424093508/https://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm597862.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Clarithromycin can lead to a prolonged [[QT interval]]. In patients with [[long QT syndrome]], cardiac disease, or patients taking other QT-prolonging medications, this can increase risk for life-threatening [[Heart arrhythmia|arrhythmia]]s.<ref name="Yamaguchi-2003">Yamaguchi S, Kaneko Y, Yamagishi T, et al. [Clarithromycin-induced torsades de pointes]. Nippon Naika Gakkai Zasshi. 2003;92(1):143–5.</ref>

In one trial, the use of short-term clarithromycin treatment was correlated with an increased incidence of deaths classified as sudden cardiac deaths in stable coronary heart disease patients not using statins.<ref name="pmid21447948">{{cite journal | vauthors = Winkel P, Hilden J, Fischer Hansen J, Hildebrandt P, Kastrup J, Kolmos HJ, Kjøller E, Jespersen CM, Gluud C, Jensen GB  | title = Excess sudden cardiac deaths after short-term clarithromycin administration in the CLARICOR trial: why is this so, and why are statins protective? | journal = Cardiology | volume = 118 | issue = 1 | pages = 63–7 | year = 2011 | pmid = 21447948 | doi = 10.1159/000324533 | s2cid = 11873791 }}</ref>