Assessment of cardiac involvement by non-invasive electrophysiological parameters in patients with rheumatoid arthriris (24-hour holter monitoring findings)

Background and Aim: Cardiac involvement occured due to the disease itself and secondary to the used drugs, and commonly develops silent in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of present study was to investigate cardiac electrophysiological parameters by 24-hour electrocardiographic Holter monitoring to assess cardiac involvement.Materials and Method: This study was carried out on 49 patients with RA and 28 healthy subjects who applied to out-patient clinic of Rheumatic Disease of Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of Dicle University Hospital. Clinical and laboratory parameters of the subjects were assessed and 24-hour electrocardiographic Holter monitoring was performed.Results: Minimum, maximum and mean heart rate were significantly higher, while Mean RR, maximum QT interval, SDNN, SDANN and HRV index parameters were significantly lower in patients with RA compared to healty controls (p<0.05). There were significant negative association between erythrocyte sedimentation rate and corrected QT dispersion (p<0.05). There were no any other association between other clinical and laboratory parameters and QT and heart rate variability (HRV) findings.Conclusion: There is modest role of QT dispersion and HRV parameters in assessment of cardiovascular risk and prediction of sudden cardiac death risk in addition to the traditional risk factors in patients with RA.Key words: Rheumatoid arthritis, Holter electrocardiography, QT dispersion, Heart rate variability