Estudio transversal: Prevalencia de arritmias cardiacas supraventriculares y factores asociados en pacientes adultos atendidos en consulta cardiológica. Hospital José Carrasco Arteaga, Cuenca, 2018

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cardiac arrhythmias are cardiovascular diseases, caused by disturbances in the initiation or conduction of electrical stimuli. The timely detection of these alterations is crucial, since in the long term it improves the quality of life of people suffering from these pathologies. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of supraventricular cardiac arrhythmias and their associated factors in adult patients treated in the outpatient clinic of the cardiology unit of Hospital José Carrasco Arteaga, Cuenca, 2018. METHODS: An observational, cross-sectional, descriptive and correlation study was carried out with a sample of 608 patients older than 18 years, at the mentioned Institution, who underwent electrocardiography during 2018. We studied the variables: nutritional status, arterial hypertension, diabetes, smoking, used drugs; age and sex; presence of supraventricular arrhythmia. We used Chi Square test to search for an association between the qualitative variables; considering statistical significance a p <0.05. RESULTS: of 608 patients, 57.1% were women; 61.84% were under 65 years of age. 43.9% were overweight, 27.6% had normal body mass index (BMI). Chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes had a frequency of 44.4% and 16% respectively. The prevalence of supraventricular arrhythmias was 3.8%. Atrial fibrillation was the most frequent supraventricular arrhythmia with 47.8%, followed by sinus arrhythmia with 26.08%. There was a higher prevalence of supraventricular arrhythmias in females than males (4.6% vs 2.7%), in overweight or obese patients than in those with normal BMI (4.4% vs 2.3%), in hypertensive patients than in those who didn’t suffer from hypertension ( 5.2% vs 2.7%), in patients who used antithyroid drugs than in those who didn’t use them (50% vs 3.6%); however, no statistically significant association was found with any of these variables. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of supraventricular arrhythmias was 3.8%. The most common cardiac arrhythmia was atrial fibrillation followed by sinus arrhythmia. No statistically significant association was found between the frequency of supraventricular arrhythmias and the variables studied.