Methodology for the study of metabolic syndrome by heart rate variability and insulin sensitivity

This work presents a methodology for studying the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Insulin Sensitivity (IS) during the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) in subjects with Metabolic Syndrome (MS). For this, it was designed a clinical protocol that includes the acquisition of ECG signals during OGTT for 15 subjects with MS and 10 subjects for control group. HRV parameters were obtained from electrocardiographic recordings. Significant differences in RR values were found between groups in the 30 minutes stage of the OGTT. In control subjects the RR values were higher compared with subjects with MS. The values of normalized low frequencies between baseline stages and the stage at 30 minutes in subjects with MS showed a significant increase in sympathetic tone during the OGTT, that was not observed in group control. The following methods were implemented for quantification of IS: integral equation, insulin sensitivity index, insulin sensitivity, metabolic, HOMA and QUICKI. We found significantly lower values of IS in the group with MS. It was concluded that there are changes in the HRV and the IS in the subjects with MS, which is a pre-diabetic disease. These findings suggest that HRV and IS can be used for diagnosis of MS and prevention of Diabetes Mellitus.