Prolonged QT dispersion is associated with pediatric syncope

Abstract: We aimed to find out whether QT dispersion can be used as a diagnosticmarker in terms of syncope type, and recurrence risk. Fifty-two patients (28male, 53.8%) admitted to the pediatric cardiology clinic with syncope werecompared with 50 healthy controls (28 male, 56%; mean age: 13.8±2.3 years,range: 11-17 years) for QT dispersion (QTd) and other electrocardiographicfindings. Gender, age, echocardiography, blood pressure while standing andsitting, electrolyte levels, liver and kidney function tests, and QTd and QTcd(calculated with corrected QT: QTc) in electrocardiography (ECG) of patientswere all evaluated. Patients’ ages varied between 7-17 years and the meanage at first syncope was 13.9±2.4 years. Mean follow-up duration of thepatients was 10±5 months (range: 5-18 months). Mean number of syncopeattacks was 2.8±2.2. QTd (72±46 ms vs. 34±14 ms) and QTcd (77±45 msvs. 33±14 ms) values of the patients were significantly longer, compared tocontrol group (p<0.001). The age, gender, QTd, and QTcd values did notdiffer between the subtypes of syncope based on pathogenetic mechanism.Additionally, these parameters did not differ in terms of the number ofsyncope recurrence and tilt test. Patients’ complaints reduced after cardiologicevaluation and advice regarding prevention of syncope. We think that infollow-up period, education and preventive precautions that can be takenin the daily life must be emphasized, and drug treatment can be started inunresponsive cases.