Cardiovascular autonomic tests in diabetic patients with gastroparesis

The aim of this report was to study the cardiovascular autonomic tests in the evaluation of diabetic patients with gastroparesis. Forty diabetic subjects were divided into two groups: one group with gastroparesis (GP, n = 20) and another group paired by age and duration of diabetes without any complaint of autonomic neuropathy (DC, n = 20). They were evaluated clinically and submitted to a battery of five cardiovascular autonomic tests. The presence and severity of autonomic neuropathy were defined according to the number of normal cardiovascular tests. Each test had a score: zero (normal), one (borderline) and two (abnormal). The GP group showed a higher abnormal total score in the cardiovascular autonomic test than the group without any complaint (6.6 +/- 3.0 vs. 2.7 +/- 1.4, p < 0.01). These data suggest that diabetic with gastroparesis presents more abnormal cardiovascular autonomic tests than diabetic without autonomic neuropathy and these tests should be included in the evaluation of diabetic patients with gastroparesis.