• Arnd Giese, Ahmet Ornek, Mustafa Kurucay, Kaffer Kara, Helmut Wittkowski, Faekah Gohar, Bjoern A Menge, Wolfgang E Schmidt, and Christoph Zeidler.
• 1. Department of Internal Medicine I, St. Josef-Hospital, Medical Centre of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Gudrunstraße 56, 44791 Bochum, Germany ; 2. Department of Internal Medicine I, Marienhospital Herne, Medical Centre of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany.
• Int J Med Sci. 2014 Jan 1; 11 (11): 114011461140-6.

BackgroundFamilial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is a hereditary autoinflammatory disease associated with subclinical inflammation, which includes atherosclerosis arising from endothelial inflammation, which in turn increases the risk of atrial or ventricular arrhythmias. Conduction abnormalities can be detected using the electrocardiographic (ECG) indices P and QT dispersion (Pdisp and QTdisp). Currently, it is unknown whether patients with FMF are more likely to have abnormalities of these ECG indices. Moreover, existing studies were conducted in countries with higher FMF prevalence. We therefore perform the first prospective study assessing Pdisp and QTdisp in adult FMF patients in Germany, where prevalence of FMF is low.MethodAsymptomatic FMF patients (n=30) of Turkish ancestry living in Germany and age-matched healthy controls (n=37) were prospectively assessed using 12-lead ECG.ResultsPatients and controls were comparable in gender and body mass index, and patients had higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) compared to controls (ESR: 23.7±14.3 vs. 16.1±13,3 mm/1(st)h, p=0.03, CRP: 0.73±0.9 vs. 0.26±0.4 g/dl, p=0.01, SAA: 3.14±4,8 vs. 0.37±0.3 mg/dl, p<0.01). No statistically significant difference between patients and controls respectively, for Pdisp (43.7±11.9 vs. 47.1±11.2ms, p=0.23), QTdisp (65.9±12.3 vs. 67.6±12.7 ms, p=0.58) or corrected QTdisp (cQTdisp: 73.9±15.0 vs. 76.0±13.3 ms, p=0.55) was found. No correlation could be found between Pdisp or QTdisp or cQTdisp and any of the biochemical markers of inflammation.ConclusionFMF patients living in Germany show a Pdisp and QTdisp comparable to healthy controls, with no increased risk of atrial or ventricular arrhythmias indicated.

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