The Effect of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus on Cardiac Autonomic Function Tests in recently diagnosed Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: Diabetes is a lifelong metabolic disorder and is becoming an epidemic in the poorly developed countries. Micro vascular complications leading to cardiac Autonomic neuropathy can be present even at the time of diagnosis which indicates its early onset. HRV is a gold standard for autonomic variability measured as standard deviation of normal to normal RR intervals [SDNN]) in milliseconds and mean heart rate are the markers of autonomic functions. Higher SDNN is healthier than a lower value. Objectives: (1) To determine the Heart Rate, Systolic Blood Pressure & Heart Rate Variability in Supine and Standing postures in recently diagnosed diabetics (2) To compare the values with a healthy control group. Materials and methods: 20 recently diagnosed [< 1yr duration], male Type2 Diabetic patients in the age group of 45 to 55yrs were selected. Apparently healthy males of the same age group were the controls. The HR, SBP and mean of SDNN in the supine and in standing were recordedfor 5 minutes in both the groups. Results: The results statistically analyzed using 'Independent Sample Students t Test' showed that the effect of diabetes on the HR and SDNN [HRV] were statistically significant with a p value<0.001, both in supine and standing postures. The association with SBP in supine was significant but that in standing was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Cardiac autonomic neuropathy starts very early in Type2DM that is evident by the reduced HRV warrants early diagnosis and stringent glycemic control to reduce sudden cardiac deaths