Effect of Controlling Hyperglycemia With Diet on QT Abnormalities in Newly Diagnosed Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
- Rajeev Kumar, MRCP1,
- Miles Fisher, MD1,
- Rhinnanon Whitaker, BSC2 and
- Peter W. Macfarlane, FRCP3
- 1Department of Diabetes, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.
- 2Institute of Medical and Social Care Research, University of Wales, Bangor, U.K.
- 3Division of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, Section of Cardiology, Royal Infirmary, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.
- Address correspondence to Dr. Rajeev Kumar, Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 4HQ, U.K. E-mail: rajeevsr{at}hotmail.com
Diabetic patients have an excess risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases. Recently, several studies have reported a high prevalence of QT prolongation and increased QT dispersion (QTd) in patients with diabetes. These abnormalities have been shown to be associated with sudden death and poor survival in both type 1 (1) and type 2 (2) diabetes. QTd, i.e., the difference between the maximum and minimum QT intervals on the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) (QTd = QT max − QT min), is claimed to reflect the degree of inhomogeneity of myocardial repolarization. The role of hyperglycemia in causing QT abnormalities in people with diabetes is not clear. …
