Heart Rate Variability In College Men Recovered From COVID-19

Abstract

PURPOSE: Persistent abnormalities in the autonomic nervous system were found in recovered COVID-19 patients with hospitalization. The purpose of the present study was to determine if there was a long-term effect on heart rate variability (HRV) in college men who recovered from COVID-19 without hospitalization. We hypothesized that college men who recovered from COVID-19 without hospitalization will have lower HRV compared with their peers who never acquired COVID-19. METHODS: This study compared 8 college men who recovered from COVID-19 (156.56 ± 57.63 days after infection; CV group) and 8 college men who never acquired COVID-19 (CT group) matched for age (CV: 21.25 ± 1.49 y; CT 21.63 ± 2.44 y), BMI (CV: 24.44 ± 4.40 kg/m2; CT: 25.59 ± 2.96 kg/m2) and physical activity level (6 physically active participants in each group). HRV was obtained from 5 minutes steady ECG in a seated position with controlled respiratory rhythm at 12 breaths per minute. Power spectral density analysis via Fast Fourier Transformation was employed to determine total power (TP), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) and LF/HF ratio. The TP, LF and HF were natural log transformed (ln) prior to analysis. Independent samples t-test was used for group comparisons. All analyses were performed using SPSS (Version 27.0) and statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in lnTP (CV: 13.94 ± 0.25 ms2; CT: 13.88 ± 0.14 ms2), lnLF (CV: 7.34 ± 0.79 ms2; CT: 7.02 ± 0.49 ms2), lnHF (CV: 7.90 ± 0.50 ms2; CT: 7.43 ± 0.55 ms2) and LF/HF ratio (CV: 0.67 ± 0.35; CT: 0.64 ± 0.31) between groups (p > 0.05 for all comparisons). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that college men who recovered from COVID-19 without hospitalization may not have persistent abnormalities in the autonomic nervous system. The small sample size in this study may limit the power to detect the difference in HRV between groups. Further large sample size study is needed to confirm our findings.