Frequency of silent myocardial ischaemia in diabetics: a single centre study

To find the frequency of silent myocardial ischaemia in diabetics as compared to non-diabetics.

This was a cross sectional study conducted between November 2008 and March 2010. Two hundred subjects were recruited by convenience sampling after informed consent. All were subjected to an exercise stress test. Electrocardiographic changes were noted for silent Ischaemia Descriptive Statistics were applied for significance.

Of the 200 subjects included in the study, 31 had diabetes and 1 69 were non-diabetics. The mean age was 46 +/- 10 years. Twenty eight subjects tested positive for silent ischaemia, of whom six were diabetics (19%) and 22 were non-diabetics (13%). Hypertension and obesity were found more frequently in diabetics (48% Vs 27%) p = 0.019 and (35% Vs 18%) p = 0.027 respectively. Despite the greater proportion of diabetics having asymptomatic myocardial ischaemia as compared to nondiabetics statistical significance (p = 0.397) was not observed.

There was no significant difference in the frequency of silent ischaemia amongst the two groups.