Key result
Multiple sclerosis patients exhibited a significantly higher corrected index of cardio-electrophysiological balance compared to healthy controls (median 5.05 vs 4.60, p=0.042), suggesting an increased risk for cardiac arrhythmia.
Why the study?
Autonomic nervous system dysfunction in multiple sclerosis affects ventricular repolarization, prompting evaluation of the index of cardio-electrophysiological balance (ICEB) as an arrhythmia predictor.
Does multiple sclerosis increase the index of cardio-electrophysiological balance (ICEB) compared to healthy controls?
Case-Control (n=57)
No
Does multiple sclerosis increase the index of cardio-electrophysiological balance (ICEB) compared to healthy controls?
Absolute Event Rate: 5.05% vs 4.6%
p-value: p=0.042
Multiple sclerosis is associated with a significantly higher corrected index of cardio-electrophysiological balance (ICEBc), suggesting an increased risk of cardiac arrhythmias potentially due to autonomic dysfunction.
Background Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease. The pathophysiology of MS involves demyelination and inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS). Altered autonomic functions are observed in MS cases. Previous studies have suggested that autonomic nervous systems (ANS) dysfunction is responsible for changes in the electrocardiogram (ECG). ANS is affected by myocardial ventricular repolarization parameters. Recently, a new predictor of cardiac arrhythmia index was identified. The index of cardio-electrophysiological balance (ICEB) is a significant metric for drug associated arrhythmia. The purpose of this study is to evaluate ICEB in MS. Results Thirty two MS cases and twenty five healthy control cases were recorded in this study. A 12-lead ECG recorded the patients’ data. The calculated ECG parameters were heart rate, RR, P, QRS, QT, QTc interval, ICEB and ICEBc. All participants had a normal sinus rhythm. ICEB was calculated by the proportion of QT/QRS. ICEBc was calculated by the ratio of QTc/QRS. Among 32 MS cases, 20 cases were female (62%). The median age of MS cases was 30 (20–34)/18.72 years. There was no significant difference between groups according to the demographic and biochemical clinical variables. Leukocyte counts were significantly higher in the MS cases than in the healthy control cases. Heart rate, P, QRS, QT interval and ICEB were similar in both groups. QTc and ICEBc were significantly higher in MS cases. Conclusions In this study, we found that ICEB was significantly higher in MS patients. High ICEB value is related to increasing arrhythmia risk in MS patients.
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Öztürk et al. (2025) conducted a case-control in Multiple sclerosis (n=57). Multiple sclerosis vs. Healthy controls was evaluated on Corrected index of cardio-electrophysiological balance (ICEBc) (p=0.042). Multiple sclerosis patients exhibited a significantly higher corrected index of cardio-electrophysiological balance compared to healthy controls (median 5.05 vs 4.60, p=0.042), suggesting an increased risk for cardiac arrhythmia.
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