Hemorheology and heart rate variability in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2
Issue title: Selected Proceedings of the 16th Conference of the European Society for Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation (ESCHM), 18–21 June, 2011, Munich, Germany
Affiliations: Department of Neurology, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria | Department of Neurology, Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria | Institute of Mechanics and Biomechanics, BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria
Note: [] Corresponding author: Assoc. Prof. Irena Velcheva, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Medical University of Sofia, 1, L. Russev str., 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria. Tel.: +359 2 9702 209; E-mail: velchevairena@gmail.com
Abstract: Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between hemorheological parameters and heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. Hemorheological variables, including hematocrit (Ht), fibrinogen (Fib), whole blood (WBV) and plasma viscosity (PV) at shear rates of 0.0237 s−1 to 128.5 s−1 were examined in 20 patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 and in 10 control subjects. They all underwent non-invasive short-term monitoring of heart rate at rest and after passive head-up tilt. Measurement of the R-R intervals and calculation of the time domain parameters and the power spectral data were performed by our softwear, using fast Fourier transformation. Significant increase of Fib and WBV in the patients in comparison to controls was found within the range of shear rates 0.0237 s−1 to 128.5 s−1. In the diabetic patients parallel decrease of the total power (TP), the low frequency spectral power (LF) and of the mean RR and mild increase of the low frequency-high frequency ratio (LF/HF) at rest were established. This tendency was kept after the passive tilt. In patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 the increased blood viscosity was associated with reduced HRV.
Keywords: type 2 diabetes, hemorheological parameters, heart rate variability
