we earlier published interim analysis of a randomized control trial in diabetes showing improvement in quality of life , post prandial plasma glucose and cardiac autonomic functions with practice of comprehensive yogic breathing program . in this randomized controlled trial,120 patients of type 2 diabetes , controlled on stable dose of medication , glycemic control , quality of life and cardiac autonomic functions were assessed . patients were then randomized into two : ( 1 ) receiving standard therapy ( 2 ) receiving comprehensive yogic breathing program with sudarshan kriya yoga plus standard therapy for diabetes . glycemic control , quality of life and cardiac autonomic function tests ( caft ) were repeated after 6 months of intervention and compared with those before randomisation . analysis by student 's t - test , wilcoxon - mann - whitney test , and exact test for two - way symmetry . there was significant lowering of the postprandial but not the fasting plasma glucose and glycated hemoglobin in the sky group compared to standard group [ table 1 ] . change in parameters of glycemic control at 12 months as compared to at six months psychological ( domain 1 ) , environmental ( domain 4 ) , and total quality of life ( who bref qol ) improved significantly in the sky compared to standard group [ table 2 ] . who bref qol mean scores at baseline and 3 and 6 months post randomisation total and parasympathetic cardiac autonomic functions did not show any significant difference in both groups . on per protocol analysis , the sympathetic cardiac autonomic functions showed significant difference in the sky to the standard group [ table 3 ] . change in sympathetic functions in sky group at 6 months as compared to at randomization ( per protocol analysis ) this change in sympathetic caft is not seen in the standard group [ table 4 ] . this study shows that practice of comprehensive yogic breathing program improves quality of life . in a chronic diseases like diabetes , quality of life it shows significant decrease in the post prandial plasma glucose and the decrease in progression of sympathetic caft in per protocol analysis . both derangement of post prandial plasma glucose and cardiac autonomic neuropathy have been implicated in sudden cardiac death in diabetes . this study has follow up only for 6 months and shows significant effect on caft . since the hba1c did not change , this effect on caft is independent of the effect on glycemic control . it indicates that , if added to lifestyle , comprehensive yogic breathing program has potential of preventing sudden cardiac death . longer period follow up in larger number of patients is needed to assess effect on progress of caft and glycemic control . that such studies are feasible , there is significant improvement in qol , post prandial plasma glucose and sympathetic caft in patients practicing sky .
background : yoga has been shown to be beneficial in diabetes in many studies , though randomized control trials are few . the aim of this randomized control trial was to see the effect of sudarshan kriya and related practices ( comprehensive yogic breathing program ) on quality of life , glycemic control , and cardiac autonomic functions in diabetes . 
 diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for sudden cardiac death . 
 cardiac autonomic neuropathy has been implicated in the causation of sudden cardiac death . 
 therefore , a maneuver to prevent progression of cardiac autonomic neuropathy holds significance.materials and methods : a total of 120 patients of diabetes on oral medication and diet and exercise advice were randomized into two groups : ( 1 ) continued to receive standard treatment for diabetes . 
 ( 2 ) patients administered comprehensive yogic breathing program and monitored to regularly practice yoga in addition to standard treatment of diabetes . at 6 months , 
 quality of life and postprandial plasma glucose significantly improved in the group practicing yoga compared to baseline , but there was no significant improvement in the fasting plasma glucose and glycated hemoglobin.results:on per protocol analysis , sympathetic cardiac autonomic functions significantly improved from baseline in the group practicing comprehensive yogic breathing.conclusion:this randomized control trial points towards the beneficial effect of yogic breathing program in preventing progression of cardiac neuropathy . 
 this has important implications as cardiac autonomic neuropathy has been considered as one of the factors for sudden cardiac deaths .