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Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Transesophageal Atrial Burst Pacing for Atrial Fibrillation Induction in Rats
Published on: February 14, 2022
Autonomic dysfunction is associated with brief episodes of atrial fibrillation in type 2 diabetes
Maria Rosaria Rizzo1, Ferdinando Carlo Sasso2, Raffaele Marfella1
1Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic and Geriatric Sciences, Second University of Naples, Italy.
Background And Aims:
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between asymptomatic episodes of atrial fibrillation (AF) and abnormalities of the autonomic nervous system in type 2 diabetic patients who did not have evidence of atrial fibrillation at baseline.
Methods And Results:
In a multicentric cross-sectional controlled study, 1992 patients with type 2 diabetes were screened. All underwent ambulatory ECG recording for 48-hour at 3, 6, 9, and 12months. Heart rate variability (HRV) was used as indicator of autonomic activity. One hundred seventy-six diabetics with silent atrial fibrillation episodes (SAFE group) and 288 without silent atrial fibrillation (non-SAFE group) were enrolled. These selected diabetics were matched on clinical and anthropometric data to 120 control subjects without diabetes of the control group. HRV analysis evidenced that LF/HF ratio was significantly higher in the SAFE group than in the non-SAFE group (P<0.05) in the whole period of HM analysis. AF absolute burdens were positively correlated with LF/HF ratio (r=0.31, P<0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that LF/HF ratio was an independent determinant of AF episodes.
Conclusions:
This study originally showed a strong relationship between autonomic dysfunction and silent atrial fibrillation in type 2 diabetes.
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