Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy (Can) in Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients.

Autonomic dysfunction associated with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is a well known entity, of which cardiac autonomic neuropathy deserves a special mention due to its propensity to cause major cardiac events in a seemingly asymptomatic individual. The incidence of Cardiac autonomic neuropathy among newly diagnosed Diabetes patients is less studied, with most of the current studies done in Western populace who have a different metabolic milieu compared to Indians. This study aims to find the prevalence of cardiac autonomic neuropathy in the Central Indian population, presenting to our center who are diagnosed to be having Diabetes Mellitus within one year.

MATERIAL: 35 patients, of the age group (18-45 years), who were diagnosed to have Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus within the last one year were taken, after excluding any other chronic illness, like CKD, CLD, CVA, etc. and after getting consent. 35 healthy age and sex-matched controls were included in the study. Cardiac Autonomic Testing was done for all of them, using the measurement of Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Deep Breathing Test (DBT), Cold Pressor Test (CPT), and Lying to Standing Test (LST). The experimental data was analyzed using Labchart Software for autonomic dysfunction.

OBSERVATION: On preliminary analysis, around 40% of the patients enrolled in the study had cardiac autonomic dysfunction, predominantly parasympathetic dysfunction, compared to the controls. There was no significant age-wise difference in cardiac autonomic dysfunction. There was also no statistically significant correlation with the HbA1c of the patient at presentation and their cardiac autonomic dysfunction.

CONCLUSION: There is significant cardiac autonomic dysfunction among newly diagnosed Diabetes patients. This reaffirms the fact that early screening and diagnosis of this disease is paramount to prevent significant morbidity and mortality associated with the complications of the disease.