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ECG signs identify diabetics with high death risk
By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A computerized electrocardiogram,
or ECG, can show which people with type 2 diabetes have a particularly
high risk of dying, researchers report.
As is well known, diabetes increases the odds of developing heart
disease, and more and more people are becoming diabetic. These facts,
as Dr. Peter Okin of Cornell Medical Center, New York, told Reuters
Health, "make more accurate identification of diabetic patients
at increased risk of dying a clinical priority."
In light of this, Okin and colleagues looked at signs on the ECG
that are associated with mortality risk in the general population
to see if they would be of use in diabetics.
They examined digital ECG readings obtained from a study of 994
Native Americans with type 2 diabetes. The participants were followed
for an average of five years, during which time there were 56 heart-related
deaths and 155 deaths from all causes, according to the investigators'
report in the medical journal Diabetes
After taking into account age and other factors, two features on
the ECG were significant predictors of death. One, known as ST segment
depression, conferred a three-fold high risk of cardiovascular mortality.
Both ST segment depression and another ECG sign, called the QT interval,
doubled the risk of all-cause mortality.
Computerized ECG equipment is widely available and accurate, Okin
commented.
"These findings provide impetus for further study to examine
whether more aggressive treatment of diabetic patients with these
ECG markers of risk can reduce mortality," he added.
SOURCE: Diabetes, February 2004.
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