Comparison of heart rate variability in children of parents with diabetes mellitus with that of children of parents without diabetes mellitus

Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy is a serious complication of diabetes, impacting the autonomic nerves that regulate the heart and blood vessels. Many studies have documented autonomic dysfunction in patients with diabetes mellitus but there are very few studies on cardiac autonomic activity in children of diabetic parents. This case-control study was designed to compare heart rate variability (HRV) in children of parents with diabetes mellitus with that of children of parents without diabetes mellitus. This study consisted of 50 normal children of parents without diabetes mellitus (control group) and 50 normal children having at least one parent with type 2 diabetes mellitus (study group) in the age group of 15 to 25 years belonging to both genders. Recording of ECG and its analysis was done with the help of polygraph (RMS Positive Dynamics). Both time and frequency domain indices of heart rate variability (HRV) were analyzed and statistical analysis was done using unpaired t test. The results showed that frequency domain indices of HRV i.e. low frequency (LF) and LF/HF ratio were significantly lower and high frequency (HF) was significantly higher in control group as compared to study group. On the other hand, the difference between time domain indices of HRV were not significant between the study group and control group. Thus, we conclude that children of diabetic parents have increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic activity as compared to children of non-diabetic parents.