Frequency of Ventricular Arrhythmias in Acute Myocardial Infarction and its relationship with Hypokalemia

Introduction: Arrhythmic complications of acute myocardial infarction like ventricular arrhythmias are common and determine the clinical outcome. The associated risk factors like potassium level may help triage the patients to reduce mortality. Objective: Objectives were to determine the frequency of ventricular arrhythmias in acute myocardial infarction and to compare the frequency of ventricular arrhythmias in normokalemic and hypokalemic patients. Study design: Cross-sectional survey Study setting: Study was conducted in Department of Cardiology, Jinnah Hospital, Lahore. Duration of study: Study duration was six months i.e. from 1st February 2018 to 31st July 2018. Subjects & Methods: Using consecutive sampling, 370 patients with acute myocardial infarction were included. Development of ventricular arrhythmias was recorded. Rate of development of arrhythmias among normokalemic (serum potassium levels between 3.5mEq/L to 5.0mEq/L) at presentation and hypokalemic was compared. All enrolled patients received standard medical therapy for MI. History of hypertension and smoking was also elicited. Results: 370 patients were included with mean age of 54.5 ± 9.2 years ranging from 40 to 70 years of age. In our study the frequency of ventricular arrhythmias came out only 16.5%. 21.9% patients with hypokalemia developed ventricular arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction as compared to 11.4% normokalemic patients (p value< 0.001). There was no significant effect of being older in age, any gender, and hypertensive in our sampled population. Being smoker was significantly associated with development of arrhythmia. Conclusion: It is concluded that patients with hypokalemia are at greater risk of developing ventricular arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction.