Comparison of heart rate and qt c duration in patients of cirrhosis of liver with non-cirrhotic controls

To compare Q Tc duration and Heart Rate (HR) in patients with cirrhosis with non-cirrhotic controls. 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 Q Tc were calculated. Comparison of increased frequency of HR and prolongation of Q Tc were done using Chi-square test or Fisher's Exact Test with significance level at o 0.05. ROC curves of HR and Q Tc were plotted for the presence of cirrhosis. 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 Q Tc 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 +- 2.15 and 74.98 +- 8.03 b/min respectively. The mean Q Tc and HR values were significantly more in Group-I as compared to Group-II with p=0.006 and p = 0.043 respectively. Means of both HR and Q Tc were significantly higher in cirrhotic patients as compared with non-cirrhotic controls. (author)