“Prevalence of Brugada pattern ECG and prolonged QTc in ECG of patients with Schizophrenia – A Cross sectional Study at the in-patient department of a tertiary care centre”

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia is a major mental disorder with a never-ending search for etiology. Ion channel dysfunction is one among the etiologies proposed and various studies have been done on the same ((1)(2)(3)). Patients with Schizophrenia have a high incidence of Sudden cardiac death, almost three times the risk of general population. Brugada syndrome((4)) and QTc prolongation ((5)) are a few among the cardiac disorders characterized by ion channel dysfunction ((6)) and can also lead to Sudden cardiac death ((7)). Identifying these two abnormalities in ECG can help prevent Sudden cardiac deaths especially in schizophrenia patients. This study aims to identify the prevalence of these abnormalities in ECG of patients with Schizophrenia and the socio demographic, clinical profile and drug treatment were correlated with the prevalence of these abnormalities. The importance of routine ECG screening in patients with Schizophrenia should be understood as well. AIMS: To estimate the prevalence of Brugada pattern ECG and QTc prolongation in Patients with Schizophrenia and their correlation with demographic factors, clinical and co-morbid factors and use of antipsychotics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Convenience sampling of 160 cases with Schizophrenia fulfilling the study inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited after obtaining IRB approval and informed consent. The sociodemographic factors, clinical and comorbid profile, treatment profile were recorded and analysed. A 12 lead ECG recording was taken for these patients. Screening of ECG for Brugada pattern and QTc prolongation were done. Prevalence was calculated in percentage. Bivariate and multivariate analysis were done to assess the association between variables. REFERENCES: 1. Mäki–Marttunen T, Krull F, Bettella F, Hagen E, Næss S, Ness TV, et al. Alterations in Schizophrenia-Associated Genes Can Lead to Increased Power in Delta Oscillations. Cereb Cortex. 2019 Feb 1;29(2):875–91. 2. Spellmann I, Reinhard MA, Veverka D, Zill P, Obermeier M, Dehning S, et al. QTc prolongation in short-term treatment of schizophrenia patients: effects of different antipsychotics and genetic factors. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2018 Jun;268(4):383–90. 3. D, Lang Y, Dong G, Liu Y, Wang X, Zhou D, et al. QTc interval lengthening in first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients in the earliest stages of antipsychotic treatment. Schizophr Res. 2017;179:70–4. 4. Francis J, Antzelevitch C. Brugada syndrome. Int J Cardiol. 2005 May 25;101(2):173–8. 5. Gaafar AE, Abd El-Aal A, Alboraie M, Hassan HM, ElTahan A, AbdelRahman Y, et al. Prevalence of prolonged QT interval in patients with HCV-related chronic liver disease. Egypt Heart J [Internet]. 2019 Sep 7 [cited 2020 Feb 29];71. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6821436/ 6. Marieke T., Cohen Dan, Seldenrijk Adrie, Penninx Brenda W.J.H., Nijpels Giel, Stehouwer Coen D.A., et al. Brugada Syndrome ECG Is Highly Prevalent in Schizophrenia. Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. 2014 Jun 1;7(3):384–91. 7. Li KJ, Greenstein AP, Delisi LE. Sudden death in schizophrenia: Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 2018 May;31(3):169–75.