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Electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings in street children known to be substance abusers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2007

Seref Olgar ,
Aygun Dindar ,
Turkan Ertugrul ,
Rukiye Eker Omeroglu  and
Umrah Aydogan
Seref Olgar*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Istanbul University – Faculty of Medicine, Capa, Istanbul, Turkey
Aygun Dindar
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Istanbul University – Faculty of Medicine, Capa, Istanbul, Turkey
Turkan Ertugrul
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Istanbul University – Faculty of Medicine, Capa, Istanbul, Turkey
Rukiye Eker Omeroglu
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Istanbul University – Faculty of Medicine, Capa, Istanbul, Turkey
Umrah Aydogan
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Istanbul University – Faculty of Medicine, Capa, Istanbul, Turkey
*
Correspondence to: Seref Olgar, MD, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Cardiology, 34390 Capa, Istanbul, TURKEY. Tel & Fax: +90 246 227 46 64; E-mail: erefolgar@yahoo.com or solgar@hacettepe.edu.tr
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Abstract

Substance abuse is prevalent in adolescent street children, and death is reported as secondary to aspiration, accidental trauma, asphyxia, cardiac arrhythmia, anoxia, vagal inhibition and respiratory depression. In this study, we examined electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings from 53 street male adolescents, comparing our findings to those obtained from 61 controls in the same age group. The street children smoked cigarettes (98.1%) and had used, or were using, thinner (73.6%), glue (75.5%), hashish (79.2%), morphine or its products (24.5%), ecstasy (37.7%), anti-emetics (13.2%) and alcohol (60.4%). On examination, their blood pressures were lower than the control group. Electrocardiographically, PR, QRS, QT were found to be longer (p less than 0.05) than the values for healthy controls. Although it was not statistically significant, QTc duration was also longer than the control group. Echocardiography revealed increased diameters of the left ventricle and atrium, the aorta, and the coronary arteries as compared to the healthy children (p less than 0.05).

Keywords

Volatile substance abuseglue sniffersudden deathdrug abusercardiomyopathy
Type
Original Article
Information
Cardiology in the Young , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 58 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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