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Prolonged QT Interval in Alcoholic Autonomic Nervous Dysfunction
Author(s) -
Yokoyama Akira,
Ishii Hiromasa,
Takagi Toshikazu,
Hori Shingo,
Matsushita Sachio,
Onishi Shohei,
Katsukawa Fuminori,
Takei Izumi,
Kato Shinzo,
Maruyama Katsuya,
Tsuchiya Masaharu
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1992.tb00703.x
Subject(s) - autonomic nervous system , qt interval , medicine , interval (graph theory) , rr interval , cardiology , neuroscience , psychology , heart rate variability , heart rate , mathematics , blood pressure , combinatorics
QT prolongation on electrocardiography is related to sudden cardiac death and is frequently found in alcoholics. We studied QT prolongation in relation to the function of cardiac autonomic nerves assessed by the coefficient of variation of the R‐R interval (CV RR ) in three age‐matched groups of men: 32 alcoholics with autonomic nervous dysfunction (AN), 32 alcoholics without AN, and 32 healthy controls. The QT c , interval and CV RR were measured at rest on the 30th day of abstinence, when electrolyte imbalance had disappeared. Subjects with arrhythmia, conduction abnormality, cardio‐megaly, ischemic heart disease or diabetes mellitus were excluded. A CV RR of less than 80% of standard predicted value was judged to represent AN. In alcoholics, QT c , correlated negatively with the ratio of CV, to its standard value (r = ‐0.49, p < 0.0001). The incidence of QT c , prolongation was higher in alcoholics with AN (46.9%) than in alcoholics without AN (21.9%, p < 0.05). QT c prolongation was not observed in healthy controls. The QT c interval was significantly (p < 0.01) longer in alcoholics with AN (444 ± 20 msec) than in alcoholics without AN (426 ± 17) and in healthy controls (398 ± 18). These results suggest that alcoholism causes dysfunction of the autonomic nerves as well as worsening QT prolongation, and this may predispose such patients to sudden cardiac death.