Introduction:

Cardiac autonomic neuropathy is a little known and underdiagnosed entity in diabetic patients, characterized by damage to autonomic nerve fibers causing symptoms such as exercise intolerance and postural hypotension; the prevalence and risk factors in the Colombian diabetic population are unclear and understudied.

Objective:

To determine the prevalence of cardiac autonomic neuropathyand associated factors in diabetic patients in a Colombian population.

Materials and method:

Analytical cross-sectional study, in a population of 107 patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus type I and type II, who consulted a second level of care hospital in Colombia, between April and September 2022. Diagnosis was performed using the Ewing test of cardiovascular autonomic reflex. Statistical analyses were performed at descriptive and association level by logistic regression calculating odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals.

Results:

The study population had a mean age of 62 years, 56.1% of whom were women. 94.4% (CI 95%: 89.9-98.6) of the participants presented a positive evaluation for cardiac autonomic neuropathy; incipient status was 6.5%, 26.2% confirmed involvement and 61.7% severe involvement; age is associated with cardiac autonomic neuropathy presentation, ORa: 1.07 (CI 95%: 1.03-1.11).

Conclusions:

The current study found high prevalence of cardiac autonomic neuropathy (94.4%) when using the gold standard of diagnosis. The age of patients has association with the presence and severity of this disease.

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