Influences of improving sleep on heart rate variability and cardiac function among adult chronic heart failure patients

Abstract

Objective To explore the influences of improving sleep on heart rate variability (HRV) and cardiac function of adult chronic heart failure patients. Methods We selected 38 adult chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with insomnia from January 2012 to January 2013 from the Number One Hospital of Zhangjiakou as control group, and 38 patients from February 2013 to January 2014 as observation group. Patients of two groups were treated with conventional medicine treatment about CHF and routine care, and the patients of observation group received nursing care to improve patients′ sleep quality based on routine care. Standard deviation of NN intervals (SDNN), SDANN, rMSSD, pNN50, the high frequency (HF) and low frequency (LF) and other HRV indexes, LVEF and patients′ satisfaction with effectiveness of medical treatment and nursing between two groups were analyzed. Results After 4 weeks nursing, the rate of patients with insomnia in the observation group was 28.95% and 55.26% in the control group (χ2=5.398, P 0.05). Conclusions Improving CHF patients′ sleep quality can improve HRV and LVEF effectively. Improving sleep is in favor of improving heart function because the HRV is related to heart function. Key words: Adult; Chronic heart failure; Cardiac function; Sleep improving; Heart rate variability; Patients′ satisfaction