Comparison of frontal QRS-T angle and inflammatory parameters between the patients with drug-naive first episode psychosis and healthy controls

Background: Frontal QRS-T (fQRS-T) angle is a novel marker to predict many cardiovascular diseases. The present study aims to compare the fQRS-T angle of first episode psychosis (FEP) patients and healthy controls (HC) and evaluate the relationship between fQRS-T angle and blood count-related inflammatory markers such as neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and monocyte to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (MHR). Methods: Electrocardiogram (ECG) and complete blood count (CBC) of 63 patients who were diagnosed with drug-naive FEP in the psychiatry clinic of a training and research hospital and 78 healthy controls (HC) individuals who had applied to the health committee polyclinic for recruitment or pre-military examination between 2016 and 2021 were included. Results: fQRS-T angle was wider in FEP patients (55.5 degrees) than in healthy controls (22 degrees) (p <.001). NLR, PLR, and MHR were higher in FEP patients than in healthy controls (p =.001, p <.001, and p <.001, respectively). fQRST angle was positively correlated with NLR (r = 0.52 and p <.001) and MHR (r = 0.39 and p =.002) in FEP patients. NLR (t = 2.196 and p =.032) and MHR (t = 5.469 and p <.001) values were found to be the predictors of fQRS-T angle in FEP patients. Conclusion: In summary, we can conclude that patients with FEP tend to exhibit a wider fQRS-T angle compared to their healthy controls. Additionally, the values of NLR and MHR could potentially serve as useful indicators for predicting the fQRS-T angle in FEP patients. Conducting subsequent long-term studies could provide deeper insights into the interpretation of the fQRS-T angle and its potential connection to cardiovascular diseases in schizophrenia patients.