Frequency and risk factors for the development of ventricular arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction-cross-sectional study

Objectives: Ventricular arrhythmias (VA) are the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in the period after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), i.e. due to myocardial ischemia. The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency of ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) in patients treated for AMI, as well as to determine which factors increase the risk of these arrhythmias. Methods: This is a retrospective of cross-sectional study. The data used here are from the database of the Clinical Information System from Clinic for Cardiology, University Clinical Centre of the Republic of Srpska, from 2020. Patients with a diagnosis of AMI were taken into account, and data on the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias, percentage of ejection fraction, Killip class, comorbidities, socio-epidemiological data, and complications within the one year that the patients were under observation were taken from the medical records. Results: During hospitalization, VT was significantly more common in overweight patients, in patients with a low ejection fraction (EF%) and a Killip class higher than 1. The results were similar during the one-year observation of the patients, with the exception that in the period of observation it was found that both older patients and those with multivessel heart disease are statistically significantly more prone to developing ventricular arrhythmias. AMI of the posterior wall showed a higher risk for developing complications. Conclusions: The results showed that the frequency of VA after AMI is 11.26% and age, posterior localization of infarction, obesity, left ventricular function and Killip class significantly determine the tendency for patients to develop malignant arrhythmias immediately after AMI and during one year of observation