Abstract
Background: Cardiac autonomic function is altered in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) individuals. It is evidenced by decreased heart rate variability (HRV). Decreased HRV results in cardiac autonomic neuropathy and increased risk for sudden cardiac death. Identifying individuals with high risk for T2DM can be an important approach to prevent or delay T2DM complications. In India, the Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) questionnaire was developed for screening Indian population. To the best of our knowledge, there are no data available evaluating HRV among adults with different risk levels for T2DM (categorized using IDRS).

Aim and Objective: In our study, we evaluated HRV among adults with different risk levels for T2DM.

Materials and Methods: This study was done in the Department of Physiology, MAPIMS. It is a cross-sectional study done on 130 male and female staffs, attenders, and laboratory technicians working in MAPIMS. All the participants will be asked to complete the IRDS questionnaire. Then, based on the IRDS score, they are divided into Groups I, II, and III. In all the three groups, 5 min short-term HRV will be recorded using RMS Polyrite. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20.0 version software. One-way ANOVA was used to find any statistical difference between the groups. Correlations between the variables were done using Pearson correlation test.

Results: Statistically significant (P < 0.05) difference in HRV between different risk levels for diabetes was determined by one-way ANOVA and the post hoc (Dunn’s) test revealed that HRV levels were significantly reduced in high risk, moderate risk when compared to mild risk group.

Conclusion: HRV levels reduced as the risk for diabetes increased, that is, HRV negatively correlated with the risk score.

Key words: Autonomic Dysfunction; Diabetic Risk Score; Heart Rate Variability; Indian Diabetes Risk Score Questionnaire; Type 2 Diabetes mellitus