The effects of methamphetamine on electrocardiographic parameters in male patients

Abstract

Objective We aimed to compare the electrocardiographic parameters in patients with methamphetamine use to healthy controls. Methods The study is a cross-sectional case-control study. Sixty-eight patients diagnosed with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) according to DSM-5 criteria and 65 subjects in healthy control group who can match the patient group with demographic data were included in the study. Heart rate, P wave dispersion, QT dispersion, QTc and Tp-e/QTc ratios were calculated in the ECGs of all participants. Results The mean age of the patients was 25.60 ± 5.70 and of the control group was 27.43 ± 6.10 (p = 0.076). There was no statistically significant difference between the blood pressure, body mass index, HDL-LDL-total cholesterol and triglyceride values of the participants (p > 0.05). Although QT dispersion was 13.68 ± 9.12 in patients with methamphetamine use disorder, it was calculated as 9.08 ± 7.85 in the control group (p = 0.002). Finally, the Tp-e/QTc ratio of the patients was higher than the healthy controls (p = 0.014). Conclusion In our study, we found a significant deterioration in QT dispersion and Tp-e/QTc ratio in the MUD group. Therefore, it should be kept in mind that there is a risk of malignant arrhythmia in this patient group and care should be taken in terms of arrhythmic events during follow-up in this patient group. Key points Patients with methamphetamine use showed significant deterioration in QTd and Tp-e/QTc Methamphetamine users have prolonged Tp-e/QTc ratio and QTd Caution should be exercised in terms of arrhythmic events in methamphetamine users