Вегетативні розлади та адаптаційні поведінкові реакції при синдромі вегетативної дисфункції в дітей, які перехворіли на інфекцію COVID-19

Abstract

Aim - to study the features of autonomic homeostasis as one of the markers of the body impaired adaptive mechanisms and the development of pathology in children after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Materials and methods. There are 95 children aged 7-14 years were included. The study group included the 75 children without chronic pathology who had a mild or moderate course of COVID-19 infection and had laboratory confirmation of the disease. The control group included 20 children who had no COVID-19 infection. The state of the autonomic nervous system was assessed by the Cardio-Spectrum rapid heart rate variability analysis system according to the conventional methodology with the calculation of the tension index (Baevsky Index), which reflects the balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the ANS. Statistical processing of the obtained data was performed with application package "Statistica 10.0 for Windows" by the method of variation statistics. Results. All children from both groups had symptoms of somatoform autonomic dysfunction. It was discovered that 54.7% of children with COVID-19 had vagotonia, 24% had sympathicotonia, and 21.3% had euthonia, what is significantly different from the distribution in the comparison group. After analyzing the wave structure of the variability of heart rhythm in children after COVID-19 it was noted a significant increasing of all components of the spectrum. These results characterize an increasing of the absolute level of activity of regulatory systems. Given into account the multidirectional nature of vegetative shifts in children after COVID-19, a comprehensive method of correction was proposed. This method include in addition to medications a rational diet, treatment of physical and mental stress, psychotherapy, and the elimination of factors supporting the presence of chronic stress. Conclusions. The COVID-19 infection leads to tension in the adaptive mechanisms of autonomic regulation with a shift towards the depletion of compensatory mechanisms. The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent of the child and child's parents was obtained for the research. No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.