Abstract
Ageing is associated with changes in cardiac autonomic control as measured by Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Not many studies have explored the influence of gender on age-related changes in cardiac autonomic regulation. This study evaluated the gender differences in age-associated changes in cardiac autonomic nervous activity by assessing HRV using frequency domain analysis of short-term stationary R-R intervals. HRV was studied in healthy males and females ranging in age from 6 to 55 years. Total power and absolute power in High-Frequency (HF) and Low-Frequency (LF) components as well as HF in normalized unit declined significantly with ageing. The HF/LF ratio was significantly higher in the adolescent and adult females compared to male of these age groups. This study suggests that gender differences exist in age-related changes in HRV. The finding that gender differences are limited to adolescent and adult age groups may indicate a role for female sex hormones in cardiac autonomic modulation.
Highlights
The autonomic nervous system plays a major role in the regulation of the cardiovascular system under both physiological and pathological conditions [1]
Analysis using two-way ANOVA has shown that Resting Heart Rate (RHR) declined significantly with ageing (P < 0.01)
16.4 ± 0.38 154 ± 0.78 49.0 ± 1.1 109 ± 1.1 75 ± 0.7 69 ± 1.1 20.5 ± 0.37 1.59 ± 0.02 (i) Data expressed as mean ± SE. (ii) ∗significantly different across the age group. (iii) #significantly different between males and females
Summary
The autonomic nervous system plays a major role in the regulation of the cardiovascular system under both physiological and pathological conditions [1]. Analysis of the beat to beat variability of cardiac R-R intervals has been used to quantify alteration in cardiac autonomic regulation and to predict adverse clinical events [2]. Periodic fluctuations of heart rate are indicative of the relative contributions of sympathetic and parasympathetic components of autonomic nervous system to heart. Spectral analysis of HRV studies the frequency-specific oscillations of heart rate fluctuation and decomposes series of sequential R-R intervals into a sum of sinusoidal functions of different amplitudes and frequencies. The ratio of LF/HF has been used to reflect the sympathovagal balance [3, 4]
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