Abstract
ABSTRACTObjective:To analyze the relationship between the heart rate variability parameters and the indicators of central and general obesity in obese normotensive adolescents.Methods:Seventy-four 13 to 18 year-old obese normotensive adolescents participated in this study. The indicators analyzed for central and general obesity were waist circumference and body mass index, respectively. Heart rate variability was obtained by heart rate monitoring. For this, the adolescents remained in a supine position for 7 minutes with controlled breathing. Parameters were obtained in time domain (standard deviation of all the RR intervals, root mean square of successive differences between the normal adjacent RR intervals and the percentage of adjacent intervals with more than 50ms) and frequency domain variables (low and high frequency bands and the sympathovagal balance).Results:After adjustments for gender, age, and cardiorespiratory fitness, a negative correlation between the waist circumference and the root mean square of successive differences between the normal adjacent RR intervals (ß=-1.51; standard error=0.56; p<0.05) and the percentage of adjacent intervals with more than 50 ms (ß=-0.96; standard error=0.34; p<0.05) were observed, while the body mass index showed no significant correlation with any heart rate variability parameter (p>0.05).Conclusion:Central obesity is a better discriminator than general obesity of autonomic cardiac dysfunction in obese normotensive adolescents
Highlights
Over the last years, the prevalence of obesity has grown rapidly among children and adolescents[1]
The clinical characteristics and the Heart rate variability (HRV) parameters are shown on tables 1 and 2
After adjustment for gender, age, and VO2peak, a statistically significant correlation was noted between waist circumference and RMSSD
Summary
The prevalence of obesity has grown rapidly among children and adolescents[1]. During the initial phases of life, obesity has been linked to the early onset of chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases[2,3]. The risk of developing hypertension, a known risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, is greater in obese adolescents than in eutrophic adolescents[4]. Heart rate variability (HRV), a method that consists of the analysis of different parameters based on the time variation between successive heart beats, has been used to quantify cardiac parasympathetic and sympathetic autonomic modulation[5]. The time domain is based on the variations of cardiac cycles considered normal (RR interval) within a given time, and its parameters are obtained from statistical methods in the RR intervals such as mean, measures of dispersion, and count. The frequency domain uses the quantification of spectral density of potency by means of specific mathematical algorithms to decompose HRV into oscillatory components with defined frequencies[5]
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