Effects of exercise on cardiac autonomic modulation in children: literature update

Gustavo Henrique De Oliveira Mondoni,Luiz Carlos Marques Vanderlei,Bruno Saraiva,Franciele Marques Vanderlei

doi:10.1590/0103-5150.028.003.ar03

Abstract

AbstractIntroduction It is known that physical exercise is beneficial and precipitates adjustments to the autonomic nervous system. However, the effect of exercise on cardiac autonomic modulation in children, despite its importance, is poorly investigated.Objective To bring together current information about the effects of exercise on heart rate variability in healthy and obese children.Methods The literature update was performed through a search for articles in the following databases; PubMed, PEDro, SciELO and Lilacs, using the descriptors “exercise” and “child” in conjunction with the descriptors “autonomic nervous system”, “sympathetic nervous system”, “parasympathetic nervous system” and also with no descriptor, but the key word of this study, “heart rate variability”, from January 2005 to December 2012.Results After removal of items that did not fit the subject of the study, a total of 9 articles were selected, 5 with healthy and 4 with obese children.Conclusion The findings suggest that exercise can act in the normalization of existing alterations in the autonomic nervous system of obese children, as well as serve as a preventative factor in healthy children, enabling healthy development of the autonomic nervous system until the child reaches adulthood.

Highlights

It is known that physical exercise is beneficial and precipitates adjustments to the autonomic nervous system
The findings suggest that exercise can act in the normalization of existing alterations in the autonomic nervous system of obese children, as well as serve as a preventative factor in healthy children, enabling healthy development of the autonomic nervous system until the child reaches adulthood
To perform the search the following keywords were used, defined on the basis of Descriptors in Health Sciences (DeCS): “exercise” and “child” crossed through the Boolean operator “and” with the descriptors “autonomic nervous system”, “sympathetic nervous system”, “parasympathetic nervous system” and with the non-descriptor, but keyword from this study, “heart rate variability”; in the English language the search terms used were based on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Summary

Introduction

It is known that physical exercise is beneficial and precipitates adjustments to the autonomic nervous system. Objective: To bring together current information about the effects of exercise on heart rate variability in healthy and obese children. One of the tools that has received considerable attention in the study of autonomic action on the heart is heart rate variability (HRV), which describes the oscillations between consecutive heart beats (RR intervals) noninvasively [4,5,6,7] and has proven to be a promising measure; potentially informative for both physical and emotional health, being considered a useful prognostic index and used as a marker of morbidity and mortality [8,9,10,11]. Transversal cohort studies carried out in children, young people and adults using HRV for ANS assessment showed that the autonomic modulation of the sinus node changes with growth and maturation [18,19,20]. Children have lower cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity at rest compared with adolescents and young adults, suggesting that reflex cardiovascular autonomic regulation evolves from childhood to adulthood [18, 21, 22]

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