Abstract
Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. There is an increased susceptibility to develop the disease among individuals with strong family history of DM. Autonomic nervous system dysfunction at the subclinical level seems to be the predisposing condition that occurs far earlier before developing an overt diabetic condition.

Aims and Objectives: To evaluate the cardiac autonomic status and its reactivity among healthy offspring with and without parental history of Type 2 DM (T2DM). To compare the autonomic reactivity by recording heart rate (HR) during and after cold pressor test (CPT) between healthy offspring with and without parental history of T2DM.

Materials and Methods: This study consists of 40 healthy male subjects with family history of T2DM (cases) and 40 healthy male subjects without family history of T2DM (controls) in the age group of 18–25 years. HR during and after CPT was compared between cases and controls.

Results: Student’s t-test (two-tailed, independent) has been used to find the significance of study parameters on continuous scale between two groups. HR response to post CPT showed significant differences between two groups across all the time points. Controls showed higher HR than cases at all the time points. However, the reduction of HR with time was more gradual in controls.

Conclusion: The results suggest there was altered autonomic reactivity to physical stress among the offspring with parental history of T2DM when compared to their counterparts, and hence, this points toward the fact that they are at a risk of developing future autonomic dysfunction and cardiovascular complications.

Key words: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus; Heart Rate; Cold Pressor Test