[Response of the autonomous nervous system of the heart in diabetes mellitus (author's transl)].

The vegetative response of the heart in 80 diabetic patients and 24 controls was evaluated by means of four tests: cyclic variations, Valsalva's maneuver, static muscular exercises and postural hypotension. This methodology indicates that vegetative alterations of the heart in the diabetic subjects are frequent (56.25 per cent). The parameters which are first affected are the cyclic variations and the Valsalva's maneuver, and that this disorder increases with the duration of the diabetes, showing a clear correlation with the appearance of peripheral somatic polyneuropathy. Although from a clinical point of view orthostatic hypotension is the more obvious manifestation, its implication in other situations, such as unexplained tachycardia, silent myocardial infarction and sudden death in the diabetic patient, lends great importance to this little-known form of degenerative disorder in diabetes mellitus.