Delayed gastric emptying is related to cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes
Bian, R.W.; Lou, Q.L.; Gu, L.B.; Kong, A.P.; So, W.Y.; Ko, G.T.; Ouyang, X.J.; Mo, Y.Z.; Ma, R.C.; Chan, J.C.; Chow, C.C.
Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica 74(1): 28-33
2011
ISSN/ISBN: 1784-3227 PMID: 21563651 Document Number: 654269
Delayed gastric emptying (DGE) is the commonest gastrointestinal (GI) complication in type 2 diabetes. We aimed to evaluate the association between DGE and cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) in type 2 diabetes. A total of 71 Chinese patients (39 men and 32 women, aged 60-90 years) and 30 controls (12 men and 18 women, aged 50-79 years) were studied in Nanjing, China. The gastric emptying was assessed by 13C-octanoic acid breath test (OBT) and gastric emptying ultrasonography (GEU). Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) was assessed by a scoring system being validated before. The diabetic patients, except for a higher plasma glucose level, had similar characteristics compared to the non-diabetic controls. Diabetic patients had higher incidence of DGE and CAN than controls (48.5% vs. 10.7%, p = 0.001). Among diabetic patients with DGE (n = 27), 18 (66.7%) had CAN and 9 (33.3%) did not. Corresponding figures for those without DGE (n = 39) were 14 (35.9%) and 25 (64.1%), respectively (p = 0.014). Diabetes was independently associated with the risk of DGE with odd ratio (95% CI) of 15.6 (1.92, 127.06) (p = 0.010). The presence of diabetes or CAN was independently associated with the half gastric emptying time after adjusting for age, gender, plasma glucose and blood pressure. We found a much prolonged gastric emptying time in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes as compared to non-diabetic controls. There was a high rate of CAN in diabetic patients, and it was associated with gastric emptying.