Prolonged QT interval in acute psychotic patients

Abstract Some recent clinical studies indicate that hypokalemia is characteristic for acute psychotic patients at the time of emergency admission. As hypokalemia is one of the major causes for prolonged QT interval, it was hypothesized that acute psychotic patients could show prolonged QT interval. Sixty-seven drug-free, acute psychotic patients were evaluated for corrected QT (QTc) interval, as well as demographic and clinical characteristics at the time of emergency admission. The mean QTc interval of psychiatric emergency patients was prolonged, and the mean QTc interval of psychiatric emergency patients was longer than that of psychiatric outpatients ( t =5.20, P P