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Medications and Potential Consequences are Correlated

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What is Q-T prolongation? How do some medications affect this interval and what are the potential consequences?

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The solution discusses the medications and potential consequences that are correlated in the given problem. It also determines what is the Q-T prolongation.

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The QTc interval is a heart rate corrected value that measures the time between the onset and the end of electrical ventricular activity. Prolongation of this interval is considered a marker of the arrhythmogenic potential of a drug specifically linked to an increased risk of torsade de pointes ventricular tachycardia
According to a document presented by the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP) in 1997, normal subjects can be divided into three groups based on QTc interval length. For males, QTc values less than 430 ms are normal, between 431 and 450 ms are borderline and over 450 ms are prolonged. Whereas for females QTc values less than 450 ms are normal, between 451 and 470 ms are borderline and over 470 ms are prolonged.

This sex difference appears to be androgen driven and not determined by female hormones: at birth, QTc interval measurements are the same for male and female infants. At puberty, the male QTc interval shortens and remains shorter than its female counterpart by about 20 ms until ages 50 to 55 years, coincident with a decline in testosterone levels moreover, baseline QTc interval duration doesn't show significant fluctuations during the menstrual cycle and Hormone Replacement Therapy in postmenopausal age doesn't affect QTc interval.

In the above mentioned CPMP document it was also suggested that individual changes of QTc length of between 30 and 60 ms from baseline raises concern for the potential risk of drug induced arrhythmias
Antipsychotics such as thioridazine, ziprasidone, quetiapine, risperidone, olanzapine or haloperidol have been suggested to prolong QTc interval.

Some doctors have reported that antidepressant drugs, including Selective Serotonine Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) (fluvoxamine, paroxetine and sertraline), Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCA) (amytriptiline, clomipramine, imipramine), and lithium can also prolong QTc ...

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