ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between QRS duration and dispersion and the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias in early stages of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). DESIGN: A retrospective, longitudinal descriptive study was carried out. SETTING: Hospital General Universitario "Camilo Cienfuegos", Sancti Spíritus, Cuba. Secondary health care. PATIENTS OR PARTICIPANTS: A total of 209 patients diagnosed with ST-segment elevation AMI from January 2012 to June 2014. MAIN VARIABLES OF INTEREST: The duration and dispersion of the QT interval, corrected QT interval, and QRS complex were measured in the first electrocardiogram performed at the hospital. The presence of ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation was assessed during follow-up (length of hospital stay). RESULTS: Arrhythmias were found in 46 patients (22%); in 25 of them (15.9%), arrhythmias originated in ventricles, and were more common in those subjects with extensive anterior wall AMI, which was responsible for 81.8% of the ventricular fibrillations and more than half (57.1%) of the ventricular tachycardias. The widest QRS complexes (77.3±13.3 vs. 71.5±6.4ms; P=.029) and their greatest dispersion (24.1±16.2 vs. 16.5±4.8ms; P=.019) were found on those leads that explore the regions affected by ischemia. The highest values of all measurements were found in extensive anterior wall AMI, with significant differences: QRS 92.3±18.8ms, QRS dispersion 37.9±23.9ms, corrected QT 518.5±72.2ms, and corrected QT interval dispersion 94.9±26.8ms. Patients with higher QRS dispersion values were more likely to have ventricular arrhythmias, with cutoff points at 23.5ms and 24.5ms for tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Increased QRS duration and dispersion implied a greater likelihood of ventricular arrhythmias in early stages of AMI than increased duration and dispersion of the corrected QT interval.
