Kojuri et al. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders 2012, 12:11 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2261/12/11

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Open Access

QT dispersion in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: the impact of disease activity
Javad Kojuri1,3*, Mohammad ali Nazarinia2, Mohammad Ghahartars1, Yadollah Mahmoody1, Gholam reza Rezaian1 and Lida Liaghat1

Abstract
Background: Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although autopsy studies have documented that the heart is affected in most SLE patients, clinical manifestations occur in less than 10%. QT dispersion is a new parameter that can be used to assess homogeneity of cardiac repolarization and autonomic function. We …ver más…

BMC Cardiovascular Disorders 2012, 12:11 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2261/12/11

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increased cardiovascular risk and provide important prognostic information in clinical practice [10-14]. QT dispersion (QTd) is defined as the inter-lead variability in the duration of the QT interval in the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). This new parameter can be used to assess the homogeneity of cardiac repolarization and autonomic function [15]. Increased heterogeneity of repolarization was shown in several heart diseases, and has been associated with increased risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmias [16]. Increased QTd has also been shown in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and SLE [17-20]. The SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) has been suggested as the best means to determine disease activity [21]. An SLEDAI > 10 is indicative of high disease activity, whereas SLEDAI equal to or below 10 indicates mild to moderate disease activity [22]. To the best of our knowledge there have been no studies that investigated the impact of SLEDAI on QTd. We therefore designed the present study to compare QTd in patients with SLE without overt cardiac involvement.

Methods Between October 2008 and March 2009, 124 patients older than 18 years with clinical evidence of SLE according to the revised criteria of the American College of Rheumatology [23] and with disease duration of one year or longer were selected from patients who were