Pediatrican and pediatric resident's knowledge about anaphylaxis in teaching hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Methadone is used for controling the chronic pain and treatment of opioid addiction. Prolonged QTc is a known cardiac complication of this drug. It seems that many factors affect the QT interval in methadone users. Several reports have suggested the role of sex hormones in QT prolongation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of methadone in QTc prolongation in methadone users in comparison with healthy control groups and its relation with hormonal changes .
Subjects& We selected 40 addicted patients who had used methadone as their opioid withdrawal for at least 6 months against 40 random healthy volunteers. For all subjects, assessment of hormonal parameters and ECG were done and two groups were compared.
No significant changes were shown in hormonal parameters except to FSH. QTc interval was significantly higher in methadone users than healthy control group(455.75±63.2 vs 426.25±22.2). PR interval was significantly shorter in methadone users ( 139.00±36.22 vs 158.25±24.48 ). QTc had significant inverse relation with testosterone level (r=-0.58, P=0.007) .
Prolonged QTc is an important complication of methadone that seems to be related to low testosterone level.