HYPOMAGNESEMIA CAUSING VENTRICULAR TACHYCARDIA IN PATIENTS PRESENTING TO A CORONARY CARE UNIT

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of hypomagnesemia in patients with ventricular tachycardia. Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive Cross-Sectional study conducted in the Department of Cardiology, MTI-HMC, Peshawar from 20 Sept 2020 to 20 Mar 2021 after approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee. Patients were managed according to the guidelines and hospital protocol. After stabilization, the data was collected. Age, sex, address, patient’s history of diabetes, and hypertension were noted. Patients` serum was sent for serum electrolytes level and also serum magnesium level. Patients were labeled as hypomagnesemia and Hypokalemia as per operational definitions. RESULTS: The Mean and SDs for age were 57.52+9.155. The Mean and SDs for the serum level of potassium were 4.93+0.806. The Mean and SDs for the serum level of magnesium were 1.22+0.423. Thirty-four (18.4%) patients were recorded in the 35-50 years age group while 151 (81.6%) patients were recorded in the 51-72 years age group. 144 (77.8%) male patients and 41 (22.2%) female patients were recorded. Diabetes mellitus was present in 42 (22.7%). Hypertension was present in 37 (20.0%) patients. 9 (26.5%) patients had past five days’ history of diuretics usage. 18 (9.7%) patients were recorded with Hypokalemia. Ninety-eight (53.0%) patients were found to have hyperkalemia. A total of 185 patients admitted to the CCU of our hospital having ventricular tachycardia were included in this study, out of which 70 (37.8%) patients having ventricular tachycardia were recorded with hypomagnesemia. 19 (38.8%) patients with diuretics induced Ventricular Tachycardia had hypomagnesemia and while remaining 51 (37.5%) patients with ischemic Ventricular Tachycardia and VT-RVOT respectively were recorded with hypomagnesemia (P Value = 0.875) CONCLUSION: The data suggest that magnesium deficiency does occur in ventricular tachycardia with an increased incidence of cardiac arrhythmias. KEYWORDS: Cardiovascular Disease, Ventricular Tachycardia, Hypomagnesemia