Cardiac autonomic neuropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus and control subjects

Abstract

Background: Cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is a common but frequently undiagnosed complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Up to 15% of the patients have been reported to have CAN at the time of diagnosis of DM. The objective of this study was to determine correlation between glycaemic control, microalbuminuria (MAU) and cardiac autonomic neuropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Method: This was a cross-sectional comparative study conducted on 100 subjects (50 diabetics, 50 controls) at Services Institute of Medical Sciences, Lahore. Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels were measured by quantitative caloric method, MAU was quantified by using QuicKey human microalbuminuria ELISA kit and cardiac autonomic functions were assessed using PowerLab^® 26T Teaching System. Results: All the diabetic subjects in our study had cardiac autonomic neuropathy. No significant correlation between duration of diabetes and glycaemic control (p=0.230), duration of diabetes and microalbuminuria (p=0.891), and glycaemic control and microalbuminuria (p=0.698) was found. Conclusion: Cardiac autonomic neuropathy and microalbuminuria are highly prevalent in T2DM. Duration of diabetes, glycaemic control, and microalbuminuria are not significantly correlated to each other.

Pak J Physiol 2021;17(1):3–7