Correlation between Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and Components of Heart Rate Variability

Abstract

Objectives This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) index, waistto-height ratio (WHtR) which were evaluated as cardiometabolic risk factors and components of heart rate variability (HRV). Methods This study was conducted on 2,008 subjects who underwent HRV test among those who had health-check up at a university hospital in Korea during 2016. The presence of metabolic syndrome in the subjects was identified. TG/HDL and WHtR were calculated and blood level of leukocyte, erythrocyte, amino transferase, uric acid were used for analysis. Standard deviation of the NN interval (SDNN), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), and LF/HF were used for the components of HRV. Results Among the total subjects, 330 (16.4%) had metabolic syndrome. The mean SDNN in the subjects with metabolic syndrome was 32.78 ± 16.49 (ms), which was significantly lower than that (36.16 ± 18.75 ms) of the control group (p< 0.01). The HF values were also significantly different between the two groups (162.77 ± 278.08 ms2 vs. 225.74 ± 330.99 ms2 , p< 0.05). Except HDL, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, and triglyceride concentration among metabolic syndrome components were negatively correlated with SDNN and HF. Significant negative correlations were found in SDNN (p< 0.01) and HF (p< 0.05) with WHtR and only SDNN (p< 0.05) with TG/HDL. Conclusions TG/HDL and WHtR, including the metabolic syndrome, showed a negative correlation between SDNN indicating left ventricular function and HF indicating activation of parasympathetic nerve. Key words: Metabolic syndrome X, Heart rate, Parasympathetic nerve system, Waist-height ratio, HLD-triglyceride