Evaluation of Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy in Patients with Hypertensive Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: A non-invasive test called heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate turbulence (HRT) uses sinus node rates and the sinus node rates' deceleration after premature contractions of the heart to identify cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction. The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), which continues to be the most significant health issue, is rising. Combining DM and hypertension raises the risk of heart disease. Our goal was to assess the impact of HRV and HRT analyses on cardiac autonomic functioning in diabetic patients who have hypertension.

Methods: A total of 108 DM patients, 50 normotensives, and 58 hypertensives were involved in this cross-sectional study. Outpatients had 24-hour Holter monitoring, and all recordings were evaluated and cleared of artifacts afterwards. After that, HRT and HRV analyses were performed.

Results: Age, gender, and comorbidity were similar across the study groups. The HRV parameters of SDNN (103.7±2.5, 113.6±1.68, p=0.002), SDANN (95.1±2.3, 103.2±2.1, p=0.014) were significantly lower in the hypertensive DM group. The HRT values did not significantly differ between the two groups.

Conclusions: In our study, asymptomatic hypertensive DM patients showed a significant decline in HRV parameters. Patients who have both diabetes and hypertension are more likely to exhibit autonomic dysfunction as seen by HRV. As a result, these people need to be monitored more carefully for cardiovascular diseases.