What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to examine and compare the ECG changes in patients with and without conversion disorder.

January 10, 2026Indian Journal of Private Psychiatry0 citationsOpen Access

ECG Changes of Patients with and without Conversion Disorder

DBDhrubajyoti Bhuyan SPSriparno PatraCentral Institute of Technology Kokrajhar SGSoumitra Ghosh

Key Points

This research aims to examine and compare the ECG changes in patients with and without conversion disorder.
Cross-sectional design

Structured PICO

Does conversion disorder alter ECG parameters compared to healthy individuals?

Population

160 individuals (n=80 with conversion disorder, n=80 healthy controls), aged 18-50 years, attending a psychiatry emergency room in India. Excluded: past diagnoses of major cardiac diseases, other psychiatric illnesses, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, thyroid disorders, cognitive dysfunction, and regular history of substance abuse.

Comparator

80 healthy individuals matched by sociodemographic profile who underwent ECG as a routine health checkup

Outcome

Changes in ECG parameters including frontal QRS-T angle, P-wave dispersion (PWD), QT wave dispersion (QTWd), QT corrected (QTc), and QTc dispersion (QTcd)surrogate

Conversion disorder is associated with significant ECG alterations, including increased P-wave dispersion, QTc, and QRS-T angle, suggesting a potential link to autonomic dysfunction and an increased risk of cardiac arrhythmias.

Abstract

Background: Conversion disorder (CD), typically linked to diverse psychological conflicts, often manifests as autonomic imbalance.The current study further examines changes in ECG parameters of conversion patients attending emergency departments after stabilization and compares it with healthy individuals.Methods: Eighty conversion patients and 80 healthy individuals participated in this cross-sectional investigation.A "12-lead ECG" has been performed on each subject.For CD patients, it is only done after the stabilization of their symptoms.For controls, ECG was collected from individuals who had done ECG as a routine health checkup.Frontal QRS-T angle and the P-wave dispersion (PWD), QT wave dispersion (QTWd), QT corrected (QTc), and QTc dispersion (QTcd) were computed.Results: The ECG between CD patients and controls were compared.The group with CD had noticeably greater anxiety levels than the control group.(Beck anxiety inventory-12 5 vs 6 5, p < 0.001), high heart rate (90 29 vs 83 20.5, p = 0.04), PWD (53.2 26.8 vs 40 12, p < 0.001), QTWd (80 40 vs 40 20, p < 0.001), QTc (421.6 86 vs 416 45, p = 0.03), QTcd (92.4 57.2 vs 45.2 9.75, p < 0.01), frontal QRS-T angle (23.73 11.22 vs 19.9 12.85, p = 0.001).Level of anxiety is strongly associated with PWD (r = 0.89 in Spearman correlation), QTwd (r = 0.45) and QTcd (r = 0.49).Depression substantially corresponds with QTc (r = 0.24) and PWD (r = 0.46). Conclusion:Our study has uncovered a significant association between CD and changes in ECG readings.

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