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Observational Study
. 2014 May;102(5):465-72.
doi: 10.5935/abc.20140055. Epub 2014 May 9.

Impact of psychotropic drugs on QT interval dispersion in adult patients

[Article in English, Portuguese]
Bruno de Queiroz Claudio  1 , Marcelle Azevedo Nossar Costa  1 , Filipe Penna  1 , Mariana Teixeira Konder  1 , Bruno Miguel Jorge Celoria  1 , Luciana Lopes de Souza  1 , Roberto Pozzan  2 , Roberta Siuffo Schneider  2 , Felipe Neves Albuquerque  2 , Denilson Campos Albuquerque  1
Affiliations
Observational Study

Impact of psychotropic drugs on QT interval dispersion in adult patients

[Article in English, Portuguese]
Bruno de Queiroz Claudio et al. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2014 May.

Abstract

Background: Drug-induced increase in QT dispersion has been associated with potentially fatal ventricular arrhythmias. Little is known about the use of psychotropic substances, alone or in combination with other drugs on QT dispersion.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of psychotropic drugs on QT interval dispersion in adults.

Methods: An observational cohort study was designed involving 161 patients hospitalized from an emergency department at a tertiary hospital, divided into psychotropic users or non-users. Demographic, clinical, laboratory data and drugs used on a regular basis were collected on admission, in addition to 12-lead electrocardiogram with QT dispersion measurement.

Results: QT dispersion was significantly higher in the psychotropic user group compared to non-users (69.25 ± 25.5 ms vs. 57.08 ± 23.4 ms; p = 0.002). The QT interval corrected by Bazzett formula was also higher in the psychotropic drugs user group, with statistical significance. (439.79 ± 31.14 ms vs. 427.71 ± 28.42 ms; p = 0.011). A regression analysis model showed a positive association between the number of psychotropic drugs used and QT interval dispersion, with r = 0.341 and p < 0.001.

Conclusions: The use of psychotropic drugs was associated with increased QT dispersion and this increase was accentuated, as the number of psychotropic drugs used was higher.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential Conflict of Interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Chart 1
Chart 1
Correlation between number of psychotropic agents and QT interval dispersion. r = 0.341, p value < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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