Diabetes without Overt Cardiac Disease Is Associated with Markers of Abnormal Repolarization: A Case-Control Study

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Endocrinology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Diabetes mellitus (DM) patients face higher risks of atherosclerosis, microvascular complications, and fibrosis.
• Cardiac repolarization abnormalities in DM are not well understood, despite increased arrhythmia risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the prevalence of abnormal T-wave morphology markers in diabetic patients without diagnosed heart disease.
• To assess Total Cosine R to T (TCRT) and T-wave morphology dispersion (TMD) in patients with DM and impaired fasting glucose (IFG).

Main Methods:

• Recruited 124 patients, classifying them into DM, IFG, and control groups.
• Utilized custom software to compute TCRT and TMD from random and averaged heartbeats.
• Compared clinical characteristics, medication use (statins, anti-diabetic drugs), and cardiac repolarization markers between groups.

Main Results:

• Patients with DM/IFG showed significantly decreased TCRT values compared to the control group (p < 0.01).
• No significant differences were observed in T-wave morphology dispersion (TMD) between DM/IFG and control groups.
• DM patients were more likely to be using statins and anti-diabetic medications.

Conclusions:

• Reduced TCRT is a common finding in diabetic patients, even without known cardiac disease.
• Further research is needed to determine if these repolarization changes stem from subclinical atherosclerosis, diabetic cardiomyopathy, or both.