Diabetic treatment and primary ventricular fibrillation in acute myocardial infarction.

The relation between mode of therapy and mortality rate and incidence of primary ventricular fibrillation was studied in 265 patients with diabetes mellitus and acute myocardial infarction. Sixty patients were being treated with diet only, 54 were receiving insulin and 151 were taking oral hypoglycemic agents. Fourteen patients (5.3 percent) had primary ventricular fibrillation, and all but one died. No statistically significant association was found between the incidence of primary ventricular fibrillation and the type of treatment for diabetes mellitus. Sixty-four (24.2 percent) of the 265 patients died during hospitalization. Mortality was greater among diabetic patients receiving oral therapy. However, after adjusting for age and sex, the difference among these three treatment regimens did not reach the P less than 0.05 level of significance.