Abstract
Alterations in the autonomic cardiovascular control have been implicated to play an important etiologic role in preeclampsia. The present study was designed to evaluate autonomic functions in preeclamptic pregnant women and compare the values with normotensive pregnant and healthy nonpregnant controls. Assessment of autonomic functions was done by cardiovascular reflex tests and by analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). Cardiovascular reflex tests included deep breathing test (DBT) and lying to standing test (LST). HRV was analyzed in both time and frequency domain for quantifying the tone of autonomic nervous system to the heart. The time domain measures included standard deviation of normal R-R intervals (SDNN) and square root of mean squared differences of successive R-R intervals (RMSSD). In the frequency domain we measured total power (TP), high frequency (HF) power, low frequency (LF) power, and LF/HF ratio. Cardiovascular reflex tests showed a significant parasympathetic deficit in preeclamptic women. Among parameters of HRV, preeclamptic group had lower values of SDNN, RMSSD, TP, HF, and LF (ms2) and higher value of LF in normalised units along with high LF/HF ratio compared to normotensive pregnant and nonpregnant controls. Furthermore, normotensive pregnant women had lower values of SDNN, TP, and LF component in both absolute power and normalised units compared to nonpregnant females. The results confirm that normal pregnancy is associated with autonomic disturbances which get exaggerated in the state of preeclampsia.
Highlights
Preeclampsia, a syndrome affecting 5% to 7% of pregnancies, is characterised by new onset hypertension and proteinuria that develop after 20 weeks of gestation in a previously normotensive and nonproteinuric woman [1]
The values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as heart rate were significantly higher in preeclampsia group compared to normotensive pregnant and nonpregnant females
Individual change in autonomic tone and cardiovascular reactivity has been reported in previous studies, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in preeclamptic women in which resting cardiac autonomic tone as well as cardiovascular reactivity to stress was evaluated by employing a combination of heart rate variability (HRV) and cardiovascular reflex tests
Summary
Preeclampsia, a syndrome affecting 5% to 7% of pregnancies, is characterised by new onset hypertension and proteinuria that develop after 20 weeks of gestation in a previously normotensive and nonproteinuric woman [1]. It is a significant cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality [2]. Different methods have been used to assess autonomic cardiovascular control in preeclampsia, data available is scant and provides conflicting information about the status of autonomic functions in preeclamptic pregnancy [3,4,5,6]. Assessment of cardiac autonomic functions can be done by combination of cardiovascular reflex tests and heart rate variability (HRV)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
