Comparison of heart rate and QTc duration in patients of cirrhosis of liver with non-cirrhotic controls.
OBJECTIVE
To compare QTc duration and Heart Rate (HR) in patients with cirrhosis with non-cirrhotic controls.


METHODS
Cross-sectional analytical study.


METHODS
Civil Hospital and Lyari General Hospital, Karachi, from March 2004 to February 2006.


METHODS
Confirmed patients of cirrhosis were selected and allocated to Group-I. An equal number of non-cirrhotic patients were taken as control and were allocated to Group-II. ECG was recorded and values of HR and QTc were calculated. Comparison of increased frequency of HR and prolongation of QTc were done using Chi-square test or Fisher's Exact Test with significance level at <or= 0.05. ROC curves of HR and QTc were plotted for the presence of cirrhosis.


RESULTS
Seventy-eight confirmed patients of cirrhosis of liver were inducted in Group-I with same number of non-cirrhotic patients as control in Group-II. The mean +/- SD of QTc of Group-I was 0.438 +/- 0.015 sec and that in Group-II was 0.432 +/- 0.010 sec and that for HR in Group-I and II were 78.34 +/- 12.15 and 74.98+/-8.03 b/min respectively. The mean QTc and HR values were significantly more in Group-I as compared to Group-II with p = 0.006 and p = 0.043 respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Means of both HR and QTc were significantly higher in cirrhotic patients as compared with non-cirrhotic controls.
Zuberi
Bader Faiyaz
BF
Department of Medicine, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi. bder@zuberi.com.pk
Ahmed
Shahid
S
Faisal
Nabiha
N
Afsar
Salahuddin
S
Memon
Abdul Rauf
AR
Baloch
Inayat
I
Qadeer
Rashid
R
D000328:Adult; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008133:Long QT Syndrome; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors