THE PROPORTION OF ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH HBA1C LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS

Abstract

Objective: 1. To determine proportion of “ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION” in diabetic patients. 2. To correlate presence of “ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION” with HbA1c and other factors in diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: The study, conducted over 18 months from June 2022 to November 2023, will focus on indoor patients admitted to our tertiary care hospital. Using a cross-sectional design, data entry will be meticulously conducted in MS Excel spreadsheets, with thorough checks to ensure accuracy. Informed consent will be obtained, and data will be collected via structured clinical Performa. Analysis will be performed using OpenEpi and SPSS software, presenting descriptive statistics with frequency and percentage. Furthermore, statistical tests like the t-test and chi-square test will be utilized for deeper analysis. This study examined orthostatic hypotensi Results: on (OH) in diabetic patients, involving a sample of 100 individuals. OH prevalence among diabetics was 12%, with 12% attributed to antihypertensive medication use. The mean age was 51.78 years, with 45.83% aged 40-59, and a male predominance (58%). Longer diabetes duration correlated signicantly with OH. Elevated HbA1c levels (mean 9.2%) were associated with increased OH risk. Higher mean BMI, fasting blood sugar, and postprandial 2- hour blood sugar were linked to OH. Notably, 12 cases of OH occurred without drug-induced hypotension history. These ndings highlight the complex interplay of clinical and biochemical factors in diabetic OH manifestation. The ndings of t Conclusions: he present study shed light on several signicant correlations regarding orthostatic hypotension (OH) in diabetic patients. Among the diabetic population studied, OH was observed in 12%, with a notable proportion also concurrently using antihypertensive drugs. Furthermore, OH showed direct associations with elevated levels of HbA1c, fasting blood sugar (FBS), postprandial 2-hour blood sugar (PP2BS), longer durations of diabetes mellitus (DM), and higher body mass index (BMI). Interestingly, gender did not emerge as a factor inuencing OH prevalence. Additionally, OH exhibited direct associations with the positivity of other tests for cardiac autonomic neuropathy and non-cardiac autonomic neuropathy, including gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and sudomotor complications, as well as diabetic peripheral neuropathy. These ndings underscore the importance of routine measurement of postural blood pressure in diabetic patients, as it serves as a vital diagnostic tool for detecting OH, an early indicator of underlying cardiac autonomic neuropathy.