Cardiac arrhythmias in chronic kidney diseases

Abstract EN

Objective: Chronic kidney disease is one of the most serious and common diagnosis that necessitate admission to the hospital with prompt management, and about 90% of cases may develop different types of arrhythmias that may require careful attention and immediate intervention.

The aim of this study was to know the prevalence of cardiac arrhythmias in sample of Iraqi patients admitted to hospital with chronic kidney disease (end-stage renal failure on hemodialysis, or chronic renal failure only).

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 100 patients with chronic kidney disease, 50% of patients have end-stage renal failure (ESRD) on hemodialysis, other 50% of patients have chronic renal failure on conservative management, compared together.

Patients, admitted to Al-Imamain Al-Kadhimain Medical City for ten months, starting from May 2015 to the end of February 2016, through reviewing patients case sheets, ECG records, and Holter monitoring results.

Results: Ninety patients out of one 100 from chronic kidney disease cases (90%) had developed one or more type of arrhythmias on Holter study.

The types of arrhythmias found in the patients in this study were as following, twenty cases (20% of all patients with CKD) with sinus tachycardia, sixteen cases (16%) with sinus bradycardia, thirty four cases (34%) with ventricular ectopic, twelve cases (12%) with atrial premature beats, fourteen cases (14%) with atrial fibrillation, two cases (2%) with heart block, twenty four cases (24%) with ventricular tachycardia, twenty nine cases (29%) with multifocal atrial tachycardia, sixty one cases (61%) with supra-ventricular ectopic beats.

Conclusions: The evidence of arrhythmias and particularly supra-ventricular ectopic beats, multifocal atrial tachycardia, and atrial fibrillation following chronic kidney disease was significantly high in Iraqi patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis.