title: Atrial electromechanical delay in type 2 diabetes mellitus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an independent risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). Increased atrial electromechanical delay (AEMD) is known to be a precursor of AF. In this study, we aimed to investigate AEMD in patients with type 2 DM.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 110 participants were recruited to the present study. Of them, 70 were diabetic patients, and 40 were healthy control subjects. Basal characteristics were recorded and transthoracic echocardiography was performed for all study participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Basal characteristics were similar between the two groups. There was significant intra-atrial and interatrial electromechanical delay in the diabetic group compared with the control group. In the correlation analysis, no correlation existed between AEMD and hemoglobin A1C or fasting plasma glucose levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the present study, we showed that there was significant AEMD in patients with type 2 DM compared with healthy control subjects. Increased AEMD might be an early marker of AF in this patient subset. To clear this hypothesis, further studies are needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, akyelahmet@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akyel
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oksüz
authors.forename: Muhammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karadeniz
authors.forename: Mikail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yarlıoğlueş
authors.forename: Gökhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ergün
authors.forename: Tayyar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cankurt
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yozgat
authors.forename: Müge
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keskin Arıel
authors.forename: Yalçın
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aral
authors.forename: Sani Namık
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Murat
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056966:Excitation Contraction Coupling; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009200:Myocardial Contraction