%0 Journal Article
%T Gender difference in QTc prolongation of people with mental disorders
%A Hiroto Ito
%A Toshiaki Kono
%A Shigenobu Ishida
%A Hisao Maeda
%J Annals of General Psychiatry
%D 2004
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1475-2832-3-3
%X We retrospectively reviewed medical charts of patients discharged from a university psychiatric unit between November 1997 and December 2000. Subjects were 328 patients (145 males and 183 females) taking psychotropics at their admission. We examined patient characteristics, medical history, diagnosis, and medication before admission.Mean QTc interval was 0.408 (SD = 0.036). QTc intervals in females were significantly longer than those in males. QTc of females without comorbidity was significantly longer than that of males.The influence of gender difference on QTc prolongation in people with mental disorders merits further research.QT interval prolongation is regarded as an indicator of potential for malignant ventricular arrhythmia [1]. Many antiarryhythmic drugs are known to prolong ventricular repolarisation, and result in the QT interval prolongation. Since prolonged ventricular repolarisation may provoke torsades de pointes and sudden death, measurement of QT interval prolongation is important to identify the high-risk patients and prevent avoidable negative outcomes.Female gender is regarded as a high-risk group of QTc interval prolongation. QTc interval has been reported to be longer in females than in males [2]. A meta-analysis of 332 published cases of torsades de pointes associated with cardiovascular drugs [3] suggested that female were more prone than male to prolong cardiac repolarization. Although females appear to be more protected from coronary heart diseases than males in general population [4], gender differences in QTc interval prolongation and cardiovascular diseases for people with mental disorders are still unknown.In addition to cardiac drugs, there are recently many reports on non-cardiac drugs' effects on QT interval prolongation [5-10]. Such drugs include some antihistamines, antibiotics, antimalarials, antifungal agents, and psychotropic drugs [4]. As to psychotropic drugs for people with mental disorders, some tricyclic antidepressants and
%U http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/3/1/3