Early repolarization as a risk factor of atrial fibrillation

Early repolarization pattern is a common ECG pattern characterized by J-point and ST segment elevation in 2 or more contiguous leads. There are some opinions that early repolarization may be associated with some kind of arrhythmias (including life-threatening arrhythmias) Aim of this study was to declare correlation between early repolarization and atrial fibrillation. In this study participated patients (19-68 years old) with early repolarization and without exclusion criteria. Monitoring was made by helping 24h ambulatory ECG monitoring. Variables are expressed as mean ± SD, The analysis was performed using Student's t test, statistical tests were two-tailed, and a p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. We compared rate of atrial fibrillation in patients with early repolarization to rate of atrial fibrillation in general population; The comparison of this two data shows that rate of atrial fibrillation in patients with early repolarization is significant higher than rate of atrial fibrillation in general population (7,3 fold higher; 14,6% Vs 2%). So, early repolarization may be considered as independent risk factor of atrial fibrilallation. This is principally new and very important information.