Energy drinks (EDs) are widely consumed by adolescents and young adults. Almost all
kinds of arrhythmias have been reported following EDs consumption, most of which is
atrial fibrillation (AF). Atrial conduction time prolongation and heterogeneous sinusal
impulses propagation to the atriums are the key electrophysiological mechanisms leading
AF. We aimed to evaluate the acute effects of Red Bull ED ingestion on atrial electromechanical
conduction times in healthy young adults. After a 12-hour fasting, 54 healthy young
adults consumed 330 mL of Red Bull ED. Atrial electromechanical coupling (PA), intra-atrial
electromechanical delay (intra-AEMD), and interatrial electromechanical delay (inter-AEMD)
were measured at baseline and 2-hour after Red Bull ED ingestion by echocardiographic
tissue-Doppler imaging (TDI) method. PA-lateral (49.7 ± 11.2 vs 54.1 ± 11.0 msn, p = 0.001)
and PA-septal (40.8 ± 9.1 vs 43.7 ± 10.5 msn, p = 0.032) times were statistically
significantly prolonged after Red Bull ED ingestion. There was also a statistically
significant increase in the duration of inter-AEMD (14.4 ± 10.6 vs 18.1 ± 8.5 msn,
p = 0.010) after ED ingestion. It was showed that even a single can of ED can acutely
increase atrial electromechanical conduction times in young adults. These findings
may be the cause of ED-associated AF.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: November 19, 2019
Received in revised form:
November 11,
2019
Received:
October 8,
2019
Identification
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© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
