Arrythmic Events in Type 2 Diabetic Patients on Insulin Therapy

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus has been associated with increased cardiovascular disease mortality and sudden cardiac death. The present study aims to evaluate arrhythmic events in type 2 diabetic patients in relation to the type of medication used for the metabolic disease. We have studied by Holter ECG monitoring 71 diabetic patients, of whom 11 (15.49%) were following insulin therapy and 60 (84.51%) were receiving diet or oral medication. We found that diabetic patients with insulin therapy had a significantly decreased number of ventricular arrhythmic events, a significantly decreased number of isolated ventricular ectopic beats, and a significantly decreased number of paired ventricular ectopic beats. The same trend was maintained regarding episodes of ventricular bigeminy and ventricular tachycardia episodes, but due to the low number of episodes of these malignant arrhythmias in the entire studied group, there were no statistically significant differences between the subgroup treated with insulin and the subgroup on diet/oral therapy.