Role of Qt Indices as an Early Indicator of Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy in Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Introduction: Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy (CAN) being one of serious complications of longstanding diabetes. CAN is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular mortality1. CAN is an impairment of autonomic control of the cardiovascular system. It is often overlooked both in diagnosis and treatment simply because it is mostly asymptomatic and there is no widely accepted single approach to its diagnosis2. To calculate QT interval and its indices (QTc and QTd) in diabetic population and theirObjectives: correlation with CAN. A cross-sectional study was performed on 150 diabetic patients attending OPD and IPD of SRG hospital byMethodology: using random sampling technique and taking informed consent. A brief history and examination performed and CAN was diagnosed using Ewing and Clark tests and a 12 lead ECG was taken. Statistical analysis was done with χ2 test (p value < 0.05). 56% patients were from less thanResults: 46-60 Years, 57% patients BMI was more than 25 kg/mt2, Mean duration of diabetes was 8.35 years. Mean QTc in CAN grade 0 was 390.23±8.24, in grade I was 401.36±10.39 and in grade 2 was 425.94±11.08, QTd in CAN grade 0 was 30.20±14.67, in grade I was 37.87±16.23 and in grade 2 was 55.34±14.32 both progressively increasing with the grade of CAN. Longer duration of diabetes was associated with higherConclusion: grading of CAN, higher grading of CAN was associated with higher value of QTc and QTd.