Prevalence of Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy among Type 2 Diabetic Patients in Erbil City

Wshyar Sadraldeen Haris; Yousif Baha’addin Ahmed

doi:10.56056/amj.2025.312

Authors

Wshyar Sadraldeen Haris M.B.Ch.B, Candidate of internal medicine in KBMS
Yousif Baha’addin Ahmed M.B.Ch.B, M.Sc. in internal medicine, Ph.D. in Endocrinology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56056/amj.2025.312

Keywords:

Cardiovascular-autonomic-neuropathy, HbA1c, Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Background and objectives: Type 2 diabetes affects over 500 million people worldwide. Damage to the autonomic nerve fibers that innervate the heart and blood vessels is known as cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy. It is usually an overlooked, significant diabetic complication. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy, analyze its risk factors.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the outpatient clinic for the Diabetes Center from October 2022 to April 2023 in Erbil, Iraq. Thorough physical examination was done in order to identify patients with and without cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy. Detailed history and blood workup were taken into consideration to find risk factors of cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy.

Results: The prevalence of cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy among the study population was 29.7%. Among the cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy patients, 53.3% were female and 45.5% were male. Patients with cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy had a higher HbA1c level (p-value <0.05). Moreover, patients with cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy were found to have lower total cholesterol, high-density and low -density lipoprotein, and (p-value >0.05). Our results show that being on oral hypoglycemic agent, being underweight or overweight are significant predictors of cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy (p-value <0.05). Moreover, we found that the odds of cardiac-autonomic-neuropathy decrease with increasing high-density lipoprotein (p-value <0.05); and the odds increase with increasing glycosylated hemoglobin and fasting blood sugar (p-value <0.05).

Conclusion: The current study demonstrates that the development of Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy can be significantly affected by poor glycemic control, high-density lipoprotein level, and the mode of treatment for diabetes control.

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