The aim of our study was to determine the role of serum glucose–potassium ratio in predicting inhospital mortality in coronary care unit patients.

Background and Objectives: A deficiency in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels is associated with a number of cardiovascular situations, such as high blood pressure, heart failure, atherosclerotic heart disease, and peripheral artery disease. The frontal QRS-T angle has recently been proposed as a marker of ventricular repolarization. A wider frontal QRS-T angle has been positively correlated with adverse cardiac events. The objective of our study was to examine the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and the frontal QRS-T angle. Materials and Methods: A total of 173 consecutive patients aged 18–60 years undergoing routine cardiology check-up evaluation, and not receiving concurrent vitamin D treatment were included in the study. Patients were classified in three groups, depending on their vitamin D levels, and categorized as follows: Group 1—deficient (<20 ng/mL), Group 2—insufficient (20–29 ng/mL), or Group 3—optimal (≥30 ng/mL). The frontal QRS-T angle was determined using the automated reports generated by the electrocardiography machine. Results: The average age of participants was 45.8 (±12.2) years, and 55.5% of participants were female (p < 0.001). Individuals with low vitamin D concentrations exhibited a wider frontal QRS-T angle. It was determined that vitamin D level is an independent predictive factor for the frontal QRS-T angle. Conclusions: As the levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D decrease, repolarization time assessed by frontal QRS-T angle is widened. Our findings indicate that lower concentrations of vitamin D may increase the susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmia.

Drug interactions with novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) may decrease their advantages. We aimed to explore the drug interaction rates with NOACs and impacts of drug interaction index (DII) on mortality among older patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). In this retrospective cohort study, we enrolled 704 eligible patients aged 65≤ with AF between January 1, 2018 and December 30, 2019 in a tertiary outpatient cardiology clinic. We recorded demographic, clinical characteristics, and medications for the last 3 months. At the end of the evaluation visit (March 1, 2020), death events and dates were recorded. All medications were checked for drug interactions using Lexicomp® software. Each drug interaction was annotated according to risk grade. Moreover, we determined a new index ratio of C/D/X classes to total interactions called DII. The mean age was 75.19 ± 7.13 and 398 (56%) were male. Death events were observed in 106 (15%) patients. A total of 9883 drugs were analyzed for drug interactions. The majority of drug interactions were in class A (80.7%). Clinically relevant interactions were 14.6% (Class C/D/X). The area under receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.704 (95% confidence interval: 0.653-0.754) and 0.167 cutoff value (68.9% sensitivity and 80.2% specificity [3.11 positive likelihood ratio]) for DII to predict mortality. This study showed an overview of the NOACs interactions in older patients with AF. Additionally, the inappropriate NOAC dose and DII showed an association with mortality. NOAC treatment should be guided by drug interaction applications to reduce mortality.