Investigation of carotid intima-media thickness in patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) have a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases than the average population. Early diagnosis of SCZ patients with subclinical atherosclerosis is great importance in reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate some clinical risk factors for atherosclerosis in patients with SCZ. METHODS: Fifty-one SCZ patients (20 females, 31 males) and 55 healthy controls (HCs) (25 females, 30 males) were included in the study. Electrocardiography (ECG), lipid parameters, hemogram, and biochemistry values of the participants were taken. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), fasting triglycerides, and total cholesterol were measured. The arrhythmogenic index of plasma (AIP) was analyzed. The recorded right and left carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) measurements by carotid ultrasonography were scanned. RESULTS: QT interval (p = 0.035), CIMT-left (p = 0.008), CIMT-right (p = 0.002), fasting triglyceride (p = 0.005), AIP (p = 0.005) in the SCZ group compared to HCs (< 0.001) was statistically higher, while HDL (p = 0.003) was statistically lower. Smoking rates, QT interval (p = 0.035), CIMT-left (p = 0.008), and CIMT-right (p = 0.002) were significantly higher in the the SCZ group than in the HCs. According to odds ratios, individuals with SCZ have a 6.3-fold higher smoking rate. According to Pearson correlation analysis, CIMT-left was positively correlated with age and QT interval (r = 0.568, p < 0.001 and r = 0.589, p < 0.001, respectively). CIMT-right value was also positively correlated with age and QT interval (r = 0.533, p < 0.001 and r = 0.555, p < 0.001, respectively). QT interval positively and significantly predicted CIMT-left and CIMT-right (p < 0.001, ß = 0.549 and p = 0.001 and ß = 0.506 accordingly). CONCLUSION: In this study, a close relationship was found between the QT interval and CIMT in SCZ patients. This finding could be valuable for using an easy-to-calculate data such as QT in place of a laborious test such as CIMT.

Comparison of frontal QRS-T angle of patients with nasal septal deviation with healthy controls.

BACKGROUND: This study compares frontal QRS-T angle (fQRS-T) in electrocardiogram (ECG) examinations of people with nasal septal deviation (NSD) with healthy controls (HC). METHODS: Eighty-two patients whom a radiologist with paranasal computed tomography definitively diagnosed with NSD were included in the study. 101 individuals without NSD were selected as HC. RESULTS: Compared to the HC group, the fQRS-T in was considerably wider in patients with NSD (p < .001). According to Spearman correlation analysis, fQRS-T and NSD angle, and platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were significantly correlated (p = .021, p < .001, and p = .003, respectively). In linear regression analysis where the fQRS-T was taken as a dependent variable, NSD angle and PLR predicted the fQRS-T significantly and positively (F(5.76) = 8.451, R2 = 0.357, Adjusted R2 = 0.315 and p < .001). CONCLUSION: In this study, fQRS-T was significantly higher in patients with NSD. In future studies, fQRS-T can be compared before and after septoplasty in NSD patients.

Elevated Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Patients with Restless Legs Syndrome.

Objective: There are studies in the literature that link restless legs syndrome with increasing cardiovascular disease risk. The reason for this was that increased sympathomimetic activation in restless legs syndrome causes tachycardia, hypertension, and autonomic instability. We intended to assess the cardiovascular disease risk in patients with restless legs syndrome using electrocardiogram parameters. Methods: The present investigation compared the demographic characteristics, electrocardiogram variables, and lab results of 40 patients diagnosed with restless legs syndrome with 43 healthy controls. Results: Restless legs syndrome patients had a higher frontal QRS-T angle than healthy control patients. Restless legs syndrome patients had lower hemoglobin, neutrophil, lymphocyte, basophil, albumin, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. There was a significant increase in eosinophil, platelet, C-reactive protein, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio, and C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio values in patients with restless legs syndrome. The frontal QRS-T angle is highly correlated with the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (P = .001). Similarly, monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio and C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio values were significantly correlated with frontal QRS-T (P = .011 and P = .24). Conclusion: The fact that frontal QRS-T angle and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio were correlated in the restless legs syndrome group in our study suggests that the inflammatory process may have increased the risk of cardiovascular disease in restless legs syndrome patients. Our findings show that the frontal QRS-T angle is high in restless legs syndrome patients. We conclude that C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio are higher in the restless legs syndrome patient group and are related to cardiovascular disease risk.

Comparison of Frontal QRS-T Angle in Patients with Panic Disorder and Healthy Control Group: A Preliminary Study.

Background: Autonomic instability is blamed for panic disorder pathophysiology. It has been suggested that this may raise the risk of cardiovascular disease. A new proposal for ventricular depolarization and repolarization impairment is the frontal QRS-T angle. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 61 patients with panic disorder and 73 healthy controls were included. The severity of panic disorder was evaluated using the Severity Measure for Panic Disorder-Adult. Electrocardiography, echocardiography, hemogram, and biochemistry data were recorded. Results: Patients with panic disorder had a greater frontal QRS-T angle than healthy controls. In panic disorder patients, the values for hemoglobin, eosinophil count, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were all significantly lower than healthy controls. In comparison to healthy controls, panic disorder patients had significantly higher values for total cholesterol, fasting triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, and monocyte-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio. Significant correlations were found between frontal QRS-T and Severity Measure for Panic Disorder-Adult, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio. The frontal QRS-T value is positively and significantly predicted by the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio value according to the linear regression analysis for the frontal QRS-T angle [F(6.54) = 8.375, P < .001, adjusted R 2: 0.424]. Conclusion: The current study found that the frontal QRS-T angle increased with the severity of the disease in patients with panic disorder. Frontal QRS-T angle may help to estimate cardiovascular disease risk in patients with panic disorder. This relationship may be necessary in terms of cardiovascular events and inflammatory conditions.

Usefulness of admission hematologic parameters as diagnostic tools in acute pulmonary embolism.

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of red cell distribution width (RDW), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in the diagnostic phase of acute pulmonary embolism (PE). We screened 248 consecutive patients who were admitted to the emergency service with PE foremost in the differential diagnosis. Based on spiral computed chest tomography, the patients were divided into two groups. There were 112 confirmed cases of acute PE and 138 patients without PE. Blood samples were obtained within 2 hours of presentation and before starting any medication. There were no significant differences between the PE and the non-PE groups with respect to sex, age, frequency of disease, serum creatinine, sodium, and potassium (p > 0.05 for all). NLR, RDW, and PLR were higher in patients with PE than those without PE. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein, D-dimer, and troponin levels were also higher in patients with PE. RDW values were positively correlated with troponin levels (r = 0.147, p = 0.021). There were no correlations between RDW and NLR, PLR, or D-dimer. NLR had a highly positive correlation with PLR (r = 0.488, p < 0.001). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, troponin I, D-dimer, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and RDW were found to be independent predictors of PE [odds ratio (95% confidence interval) respectively: 5.208 (2.534-10.704), 1.242 (1.094-1.409), 1.005 (1.000-1.010), 1.175 (1.052-1.312)]. In receiver operating characteristic analysis of the patients in the study, RDW >18.9 predicted acute PE with a sensitivity of 20.7% and a specificity of 93.4%. In conclusion, RDW can be considered useful as a diagnostic measure for patients with suspected acute PE.