Exercise Stress Testing In Diabetics with Asymptomatic Coronary Artery Disease.

ABSTRACT

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a common cause of premature morbidity and mortality in diabetics and is often asymptomatic because of silent myocardial ischemia. Early detection of silent myocardial ischemia may prevent catastrophic cardiac events. Objectives: to study the prevalence of latent coronary artery disease in diabetics by maximal treadmill exercise testing and to correlate CAD with severity and duration of diabetes. Materials and methods: The present one year observational cross sectional study was conducted at Gurugobind Singh hospital, Jamnagar in 100 diabetic patients without clinical evidence of coronary artery disease. All participants undergone exercise stress testing using Bruce protocol to detect silent myocardial ischemia. Results: Out of 100 patients, TMT was positive in 32(32%) and negative in 68(68%) patients. TMT was positive in 10/56(17.85%), 8/24(33.33%), 8/12(66.66%) and 6/8(75%) patients with duration of diabetes ≤5, 6 to 10, 11 to 15 and 16 to 20 years respectively. Conclusion and interpretation: The prevalence of asymptomatic coronary artery disease in diabetes mellitus without past history of ischemic heart disease or hypertension is 32%. Longer the duration and poor control of diabetes, greater the risk of asymptomatic coronary artery disease.