Association of Hypokalemia with Severe Arrhythmias in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

Result: Serum potassium concentrations were significantly decreased with the severity of arrhythmias (no arrhythmias; 4.2 ± 0.80 mmol/l, supra-ventricular; 3.8 ± 0.9 mmol/l, and ventricular arrhythmias; 3.3 ± 0.5 mmol/l, p=0.0001). The risks of supra-ventricular and ventricular arrhythmias were significantly increased by 2.4 and 8.3 fold, respectively in patients with serum potassium levels at the lowest quartile (<3.5 mmol/l) compared with the highest quartile of serum potassium when adjusted for other risk factors.