Characterisation of IHR entrainment in controlled breathing experiments in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus and normal subjects

The objective of this study was to investigate whether adult patients with diabetes mellitus show different instantaneous heart rate (IHR) entrainment characteristics compared with normal adults. The authors performed controlled breathing experiments in 10 normal adults and in 6 adults with diabetes mellitus. They recorded the IHR and the breathing signal (integrated volume). The entrainment behaviour in the time course was analysed by means of short time (10 sec.) moving cross connection (MCC). A transition from oscillating phase to stable entrainment took place at larger breathing frequencies (0.13 Hz±0.03 Hz) in patients with diabetes mellitus compared to normal subjects (0.097 Hz±0.013 Hz). This significant difference (p=0.041) supports the hypothesis that the degree of coupling between breathing and heart rate is lower in diabetics than in normal subjects