Diabetes and cardiac autonomic neuropathy： Clinicalmanifestations, cardiovascular consequences, diagnosisand treatment
摘要
Cardiac autonomic neuropathy （CAN） is a frequentchronic complication of diabetes mellitus with potentiallylife-threatening outcomes. CAN is caused by theimpairment of the autonomic nerve fibers regulatingheart rate, cardiac output, myocardial contractility, cardiacelectrophysiology and blood vessel constriction anddilatation. It causes a wide range of cardiac disorders,including resting tachycardia, arrhythmias, intraoperativecardiovascular instability, asymptomatic myocardialischemia and infarction and increased rate of mortalityafter myocardial infarction. Etiological factors associatedwith autonomic neuropathy include insufficient glycemiccontrol, a longer period since the onset of diabetes,increased age, female sex and greater body mass index.The most commonly used methods for the diagnosisof CAN are based upon the assessment of heart ratevariability （the physiological variation in the time intervalbetween heartbeats）, as it is one of the first findings inboth clinically asymptomatic and symptomatic patients.Clinical symptoms associated with CAN generally occurlate in the disease process and include early fatigue andexhaustion during exercise, orthostatic hypotension,dizziness, presyncope and syncope. Treatment is basedon early diagnosis, life style changes, optimization ofglycemic control and management of cardiovascular riskfactors. Medical therapies, including aldose reductaseinhibitors, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors,prostoglandin analogs and alpha-lipoic acid, have beenfound to be effective in randomized controlled trials.The following article includes the epidemiology, clinicalfindings and cardiovascular consequences, diagnosis,and approaches to prevention and treatment of CAN.