title: Increased QT dispersion in patients with alcoholic pancreatitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Increased dispersion of the QT interval has been proposed to be a novel marker for increased risk of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. This study examined whether QT dispersion is affected in patients with alcoholic pancreatitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured the QT interval, corrected QT interval, activation recovery interval, activation time, recovery time, and their respective dispersions in 3 age- and gender-matched groups: patients with alcoholic pancreatitis [age, 58.9 +/- 11.8 years; male/female (M/F), 33/3], patients with alcohol dependence (age, 59.3 +/- 8.9 years; M/F, 33/4), and a healthy control group (age, 55.8 +/- 8.8 years; M/F, 33/3).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The QT dispersions in patients with alcoholic pancreatitis (62.4 +/- 19.9 milliseconds; P < 0.001) or alcohol dependence (58.2 +/- 19.6 milliseconds; P < 0.001) were significantly greater than in the control group (41.4 +/- 13.3 milliseconds). Similarly, the corrected QT dispersions in patients with alcoholic pancreatitis (68.5 +/- 22.8 milliseconds; P < 0.001) or alcohol dependence (65.3 +/- 23.6 milliseconds; P < 0.001) were significantly greater than in the control group (42.8 +/- 13.2 milliseconds). Both QT dispersion and QTc dispersion were longer in patients with alcoholic pancreatitis than those with alcohol dependence (P = 0.011 and P = 0.039, respectively). Simple linear regression analysis of the relationship between the RR and QT intervals revealed that the regression lines for patients with alcoholic pancreatitis and alcohol dependence were almost parallel. However, the slope of the regression line for the control group was significantly greater (P < 0.05) than for the other 2 lines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings demonstrate increased QT and QTc dispersions in patients with either alcoholic pancreatitis or alcohol dependence. The QT dispersion and QTc dispersion were longer in patients with alcoholic pancreatitis than those with alcohol dependence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto, Japan. junichi@sun.kpu-m.ac.jp
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sakagami
authors.forename: Keisho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kataoka
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sogame
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Usui
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kanemitsu
authors.forename: Ryusuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Takada
authors.forename: Reiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Motoyoshi
authors.forename: Mayuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitsuyoshi
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitsufuji
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okanoue
mesh_terms: D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019512:Pancreatitis, Alcoholic / Q000150:complications*