Rates of cardiac rhythm abnormalities in patients with CKD and diabetes

Abstract

Background and objectives Cardiac arrhythmias increase mortality and morbidity in CKD. We evaluated the rates of subclinical arrhythmias in a population with type 2 diabetes and patients with moderate to severe CKD who were not on dialysis. Design, setting, participants & measurements This is a prospective observational study, using continuous ambulatory cardiac monitors to determine the rate of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, as well as conduction abnormalities in this group. ResultsAtotal of 38 patients (34%women), withmeaneGFR of 38613ml/min per 1.73m2, underwentambulatory cardiacmonitoring for 11.263.9 days. The overallmean rate of any cardiac arrhythmiawas 88.8 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 27.1 to 184.6) episodes per person-year (PY).Ahistory of cardiovascular disease was associated with a higher rate of detected arrhythmia (rate ratio, 5.87; 95% CI, 1.37 to 25.21; P<0.001). The most common arrhythmiawas atrial fibrillation,whichwas observed in two participants with known atrial fibrillation andwas a newdiagnosis in four patients (11%), none ofwhomexperienced symptoms.Overall, atrial fibrillation episodes occurred at a rate of 37.6 (95% CI, 2.4 to 112.3) per PY. Conduction abnormalities were found in eight patients (21%), a rate of 26.5 (95% CI, 4.2 to 65.5) per PY. Rates of ventricular arrhythmias were low (14.5 per PY; 95% CI, 4.3 to 32.0) and driven by premature ventricular contractions. Conclusions Cardiac rhythm abnormalities are common in patients with diabetes with moderate to severe CKD not requiring dialysis. Rates of atrial fibrillation are high and episodes are asymptomatic. Future studies are needed to determine the role of screening and upstream therapy of cardiac arrhythmias in this group.