Abstract：Objective To investigate the characteristics of heart rate variability in diabetic patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Methods Twenty-six cases of type 2 diabetic patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation were selected as case group while fifty cases of type 2 diabetic patients without paroxysmal atrial fibrillation were selected as control group. Heart rate variability indexes including standard deviation of sinus R-R interval(SDNN), root mean square of the successive normal sinus R-R interval difference(rMSSD), standard deviation of the average normal 5minute R-R interval (SDANN), the percentage of differences between adjacent normal R-R intervals more than 50 ms(PNN50), low frequency(LF), high frequency(HF), and the ratio of low frequency to high frequency(LF/HF) were analyzed between the two groups. ResultsThe rMSSD, PNN50 and HF of case group were larger than the control group\(50.9±21.8) ms vs. (25.5±9.5)ms, (22.5±13.9)% vs. (5.9±6.9)% and (704.0±157.7) vs. (132.3±10.9)\]. The LF/HF of case group was smaller than that of the control group [(0.65±0.0) vs. (2.1±0.2),P<0.05\].The sensitivity and specificity of LF/HF<1 in the diagnosis of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in diabetic patients were 84.6% and 80.0% respectively, and the area under the ROC curve was 0.823 (95%CI: 0.720-0.926, P=0.000).Conclusions LF/HF<1 in diabetic patients can predict the occurrence of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation to a certain extent. The assessment of heart rate variability is helpful for the prevention and detection of arrhythmia in diabetes.
