Cardiac Autonomic Alteration and Metabolic Syndrome: An Ambulatory ECG-based Study in A General Population

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 44363
• Main Authors: Ma, Yan, Tseng, Ping-Huei, Ahn, Andrew, Wu, Ming-Shiang, Ho, Yi-Lwun, Chen, Ming-Fong, Peng, Chung-Kang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 14.03.2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/57; 692/163/2743/2037; Adult; Autonomic Nervous System - diagnostic imaging; Autonomic Nervous System - physiopathology; Cardiovascular system; Cardiovascular System - diagnostic imaging; Cardiovascular System - physiopathology; Case-Control Studies; EKG; Electrocardiography; Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; Entropy; Female; Heart - diagnostic imaging; Heart - physiopathology; Heart diseases; Heart Rate; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Male; Metabolic disorders; Metabolic syndrome; Metabolic Syndrome - diagnostic imaging; Metabolic Syndrome - physiopathology; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Population studies; Retrospective Studies; Science; Waist Circumference
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep44363

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been associated with chronic damage to the cardiovascular system. This study aimed to evaluate early stage cardiac autonomic dysfunction with electrocardiography (ECG)-based measures in MetS subjects. During 2012–2013, 175 subjects with MetS and 226 healthy controls underwent ECG recordings of at least 4 hours starting in the morning with ambulatory one-lead ECG monitors. MetS was diagnosed using the criteria defined in the Adult Treatment Panel III, with a modification of waist circumference for Asians. Conventional heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, and complexity index (CI 1–20 ) calculated from 20 scales of entropy (multiscale entropy, MSE), were compared between subjects with MetS and controls. Compared with the healthy controls, subjects with MetS had significantly reduced HRV, including SDNN and pNN20 in time domain, VLF, LF and HF in frequency domain, as well as SD2 in Poincaré analysis. MetS subjects have significantly lower complexity index (CI 1–20 ) than healthy subjects (1.69 ± 0.18 vs. 1.77 ± 0.12, p < 0.001). MetS severity was inversely associated with the CI 1–20 (r = −0.27, p < 0.001). MetS is associated with significant alterations in heart rate dynamics, including HRV and complexity.