Reliability of heart rate variability in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Aims Heart rate variability may be used to assess diabetic cardiac autonomic neuropathy. The aim of the present study was to determine the reliability of standard short-term clinical measurements of heart rate variability in patients with Type2 diabetes. Methods In 24 patients with Type2 diabetes (11 male, age 61±9years), parameters of heart rate variability in the time domain (standard deviation of RR intervals, coefficient of variation of RR intervals and root mean square of successive RR interval differences) and frequency domain (very low frequency, low frequency, high frequency and total spectral power) were derived from a 5-min electrocardiograph recorded during two laboratory visits s..