Objective: 

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) is concerned with two different chronic idiopathic inflammatory diseases: Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). This study aimed to investigate the frequency and factors of prolonged QTdispersion that may lead to severe ventricular arrhythmias in the IBD diseases.

Methods: 

This study included 63 ulcerative colitis and 41 Crohn's disease patients with 47 healthy patients as control group with no previous chronic disease, electrolyte imbalance and medication except IBD treatment. By electrocardiography, corrected QT dispersion (QTcd) for heart rate using the Bazett's formula was calculated. Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA) was used to determine insulin resistance (IR). HOMA values<1 were considered normal and values>2.5 indicated a high probability of IR.

Results: 

This study included 63 ulcerative colitis patients (mean age 40.89±12.25), 41 Crohn's disease patients (mean age 38±7.79) and 47 healthy patients in control group (mean age 41.21±10.55). Of the patients; 12.2% ulcerative colitis and 14.5% Crohn's disease patients had prolonged QTcd than the control group (p<0.05). A significant difference was found between the values of insulin (p<0.05) and HOMA (p<0.01) of the UC and Crohn's disease patients with and without prolonged QTcd. The structurizating and penetrating types of involvements were determined in Crohn's disease patients with prolonged QTcd. The increased systolic arterial pressure (p<0.01) and age (p<0.05) in ulcerative colitis patients were significantly associated with prolonged QTcd.

Conclusions:Further studies are necessary to determine the association between ethiopathogenesis of IBD and IR. The routine follow-up of the IBD patients should include determination of HOMA values and ECG examination.