Cardiac autonomic dysfunction and ECG abnormalities in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus—a comparative cross-sectional study

Background: Globally, diabetes mellitus has now emerged as a major public health problem, especially in India. Diabetic neuropathy may occur in nearly half of the patients with long-standing diabetes mellitus. In diabetes mellitus, the determinants of cardiac autonomic dysfunction were duration of diabetes, extent of glycemic control, age, and gender. Aims and Objective: To study the various ECG abnormalities in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients when compared with control subjects. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out as a hospital-based cross-sectional study among 50 diabetic patients and 50 ageand sex-matched control subjects. Resting ECG was recorded among study and control groups and compared. SPSS, version 20.0, was used for statistical analysis; unpaired t test was used to test the statistical difference in comparison of means, and a p value of o0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: The study results showed that certain ECG changes such as resting heart rate, RR interval, PR interval, QRS axis, and QTc interval significantly varied between study and control groups. Abnormal heart rate response to deep breathing and postural hypotension were observed at higher frequency among patients with diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Evaluation of various cardiovascular reflexes and ECG in type 2 diabetic patients may serve as a feasible technique to determine the presence of cardiac dysautonomia.