Electrolyte Disturbances in Post-Acute Myocardial Infarction Arrhythmias

Introduction: Electrolyte disturbances are an important predictor for the prediction of arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study investigated the prevalence and relationship of various electrolyte disorders with common types of arrhythmias after AMI. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 153 patients with arrhythmias after AMI. Patient's demographic variables were collected from patient files and required laboratory findings including serum potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) were measured in the first 12 hours after AMI. Any type of serum electrolyte disturbance was defined as a value above or below the reference values. The incidence of any arrhythmias during hospitalization was determined for each group of electrolyte disturbances using chi-square test and fisher exact test. Logistic regression was used in order to evaluate the risk of any arrhythmias in association with serum electrolyte levels. Results: In this study, the most common arrhythmias after AMI were inappropriate sinus tachycardia (IST) (43.1%), sinus bradycardia (33.3%), and premature ventricular contractions (30.7%), respectively. Majority of subjects had normal levels of serum K and Ca levels (P=0.001). Also, most of the patients with ventricular tachycardia and SB were in the range of normokalemia (P=0.015) and normocalcemia (P=0.035), respectively. The risk of IST increases by 1.911 times for every 0.648 units increase in K (P=0.033). However, no significant relationship was seen between other electrolyte disturbances and any other post-AMI arrhythmias. Conclusion: Occurrence of IST increases with higher levels of K. lack of association between other serum electrolytes levels and arrhythmias indicate the importance of further studies in this regard with consideration of other affecting factors.