13th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS"
OF ARRHYTHMIAS 1998

January 24-31, 1998
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

RT-42

QT interval duration and dispersion during exercise in obese patients

Mario Facchini, Gabriella Malfatto, Francesca Ciambellotti, Gastone Leonetti.
Istituto Scientifico Ospedale San Luca, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Universita di Milano, Milan, Italy

Introduction

Reports from epidemiologic studies show that obesity is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular total mortality^1,2 and for sudden death³. The underlying mechanism for sudden death remains speculative, although the documentation of a high prevalence of ventricular arrhythmias in obese patients⁴ suggests that electrical instability of ventricular myocardium may be present in these subjects. Moreover, it has been shown that QT interval duration is related to body mass index (BMI) and fatness^5,6 and that about 4% of obese subjects had a QTc greater than 450 msec. The aim of this study was to evaluate QT dispersion, an index of dyshomogeneity of the recovery of ventricular excitability, both at rest and during maximal exercise stress testing in obese patients and in control healthy subjects with normal weight.