Abstract
Autonomic nervous activities are estimated in three groups of patients; Group A consists of patients who had experienced myocardial infarction (MI) within 2–6 weeks before the tests; Group B consists of patients who had MI more than one year previously; Group C consists of matched controls, free of cardiac disease. Autonomic activity is estimated using postural effects on heart rate variability (HRV): a sympathetic activity index is defined as HRV power within a low frequency band (0·04–0·12 Hz) in the tilt position and a parasympathetic activity index is defined as HRV power in a high frequency band (0·18–0·28 Hz) in the supine position. Results show that, relative to controls, Group A patients have reduced parasympathetic activity index (5+3 against 13+8, normalised units; p<0·05) and an increased ratio of sympathetic to parasympathetic activity (17+17 against 4+2; p<0·05). Group B is not significantly different from Group A or C. The period of 2–6 weeks post-MI thus appears to be characterised by depressed parasympathetic nervous activity which can be measured using HRV analysis.
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Craelius, W., Akay, M. & Tangella, M. Heart rate variability as an index of autonomic imbalance in patients with recent myocardial infarction. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 30, 385–388 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02446165
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02446165