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Diabetes prevalence in patients with bradycardiac arrhythmias
Insights
Pacemaker patients show significantly higher diabetes prevalence, especially women, possibly due to overweight. This suggests diabetes-specific vascular changes may damage the heart's conduction system.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Endocrinology
- Diabetology
Background:
- Diabetes mellitus is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular complications.
- Bradycardiac arrhythmia necessitates pacemaker implantation, often in patients with underlying cardiovascular disease.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in patients with pacemakers due to severe bradycardiac arrhythmia.
- To explore potential correlations between diabetes, sex, overweight, and coronary arteriosclerosis in this cohort.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study involving 473 patients fitted with pacemakers for bradycardiac arrhythmia.
- Assessment of diabetes prevalence (overt and known), duration, and associated factors like overweight and myocardial infarction.
Main Results:
- Diabetes prevalence was 36.1% in males and 45.5% in females.
- Known diabetes averaged 7.1 years; 55% of cases were pre-existing.
- Higher diabetes occurrence in women linked to twice the rate of overweight.
- Myocardial infarction was present in 20% of males and 10% of females.
Conclusions:
- Pacemaker patients exhibit a 6-10 times higher diabetes prevalence than the general population.
- Diabetes-specific vascular changes may contribute to ischemic damage of the cardiac conduction system in these patients.
Abstract:
The prevalence of diabetes was investigated in 473 patients who had been fitted with pacemakers because of severe bradycardiac arrhythmia. Irrespective of the type of arrhythmia, 36.1% of the male and 45.5% of the female patients exhibited overt diabetes. The metabolic disorder was known in about half (55%) of the cases; average duration of known diabetes in these patients was 7.1 years (0.5-23 years). The more frequent occurence of diabetes in women was attributed to the frequency of overweight (twice as high) in this group. Only one fifth of the male and one tenth of the female patients had myocardial infarction as a sign of manifest coronary arteriosclerosis. The 6 to 10 times higher diabetes prevalence of pacemaker patients compared to the general population of corresponding age may indicate ischemic damage to the conduction system caused by diabetes-specific vascular changes.