Junior, A.S.M.; Schröder, A.A.; Resende, A.L. Cardiac Autonomic Function in Long COVID-19 Using Heart Rate Variability: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study. J. Clin. Med.2023, 12, 100.
Junior, A.S.M.; Schröder, A.A.; Resende, A.L. Cardiac Autonomic Function in Long COVID-19 Using Heart Rate Variability: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study. J. Clin. Med. 2023, 12, 100.
Junior, A.S.M.; Schröder, A.A.; Resende, A.L. Cardiac Autonomic Function in Long COVID-19 Using Heart Rate Variability: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study. J. Clin. Med.2023, 12, 100.
Junior, A.S.M.; Schröder, A.A.; Resende, A.L. Cardiac Autonomic Function in Long COVID-19 Using Heart Rate Variability: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study. J. Clin. Med. 2023, 12, 100.
Abstract
Background: Heart rate variability is a non-invasive, measurable, and established autonomic nervous system test. Long-term COVID-19 sequelae are unclear; however, acute symptoms have been studied. Objectives: To determine autonomic cardiac differences between long COVID-19 patients and heathy controls and evaluate associations among symptoms, comorbidities, and laboratory findings. Methods: This single-center study included long COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. The heart rate variability (HRV), a quantitative marker of autonomic activity, was monitored for 24 h using an ambulatory electrocardiogram system. HRV indices were compared between case and control groups. Symptom frequency and inflammatory markers were evaluated. The significance level of 5% (p-value 0.05) was adopted. Results: A total of 47 long COVID-19 patients were compared to 42 healthy controls. Patients averaged 43.8 (SD14.8) years old, and 60.3% were female. In total, 52.5% of patients had moderate illness. Post-exercise dyspnea was most common (71.6%), and 53.2% lacked comorbidities. COVID-19 patients had 4 times more dyslipidemia. CNP, D-dimer, and CRP levels were elevated (p-values of 0.0098, 0.0023, and 0.0015, respectively). The control group had greater SDNN24 and SDANNI (OR = 0.98 (0.97 to 0.99; p = 0.01)). Increased low-frequency (LF) indices in COVID-19 patients (OR = 1.002 (1.0001 to 1.004; p = 0.030)) and high-frequency (HF) indices in the control group (OR = 0.987 (0.98 to 0.995; p = 0.001)) were also associated. Conclusions: Patients with long COVID-19 had lower HF values than healthy individuals. These variations are associated with increased parasympathetic activity, which may be related to long COVID-19 symptoms and inflammatory laboratory findings.
Medicine and Pharmacology, Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Received:
21 November 2022
Commenter:
Michael Crespo
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
You say in the paper that lower HF values is associated with increased parasympathetic activity.
I thought that lower HF values was associated with decreased parasympathetic activity.
,
,
,
Commenter: Michael Crespo
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
I thought that lower HF values was associated with decreased parasympathetic activity.