SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF HEART RATE VARIABILITY IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC RESPIRATORY FAILURE

• Published in: Japanese Journal of National Medical Services Vol. 48; no. 5; pp. 347 - 353
• Main Authors: KUBO, Susumu, FUJITA, Kiyo, NAKATOMI, Masao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japanese Society of National Medical Services 1994
• Subjects: autonomic nervous activity; chronic respiratory failure; heart rate variability, Holter ECG; spectral analysis
• ISSN: 0021-1699; 1884-8729
• DOI: 10.11261/iryo1946.48.347

To evaluate the activity of the autonomic nervous system in chronic respiratory failure, we performed the spectral analysis of heart rate variability obtained by 24-hour Holter ECG in 22 healthy subjects and 22 patients with chronic lung diseases. In healthy subjects low frequency components (LF, 0.04-0.15 Hz) of the heart rate power spectrum showed the biphasic circadian variation, that is it was low during the night, and high during the daytime. The high frequency components (HF, 0.15-0.40 Hz) showed the mirror image of the pattern of LF. In patients with chronic lung diseases both LF-power and HF-power were lower than those obtained in healthy subjects. The magnitude of the circadian variations of LF, HF, and LF/HF ratio of patients was smaller than that of healthy subjects. In 5 of 22 patients with chronic lung diseases, the circadian variations of LF and LF/HF ratio showed the opposite pattern, that is they were higher during the midnight than during the daytime. These Eire patients received home oxygen therapy. These results suggest that the magnitude of the circadian variation of autonomic nervous system decreased in patients with chronic lung diseases, and also that in some patients with chronic repiratory failure the sympathetic nerve activity was in-creased during the night.