Electrocardiographic data of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Adult patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus are at risk for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

The objective of our study is to evaluate the electrocardiographic data of children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus and to determine the possibility of arrhythmia in order to prevent sudden death.

Electrocardiographic data of 60 patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus and 86 controls, who were compatible with the patient group in terms of age and gender, were compared.

The duration of diabetes in our patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus was 5.23 ± 1.76 years, and the haemoglobin A1c levels were 9.63% ± 1.75%. The heart rate, QRS, QT maximum, QT dispersion, QTc minimum, QTc maximum, QTc dispersion, Tp-e maximum, Tp-e maximum/QTc maximum and the JTc were significantly higher compared to the control group. There was no significant correlation between the duration of type 1 diabetes mellitus and HbA1c levels and the electrocardiographic data.

We attributed the lack of a significant correlation between the duration of type 1 diabetes mellitus and the haemoglobin A1c levels and the electrocardiographic data to the fact that the duration of diabetes was short, since our patients were children. We believe that patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus should be followed up closely in terms of sudden death, as they have electrocardiographic changes that may cause arrhythmias compared to the control group. However, more studies with longer follow-up periods are necessary to support our data.