Reliability of heart rate variability threshold and parasympathetic reactivation after a submaximal exercise test

Carlos Janssen Gomes Da Cruz,Deleon De Souza Pires,Luiz Guilherme Grossi Porto,Christopher Marcos Oliveira Mendes,Guilherme Eckhardt Molina,Gabriel Monteiro De Paula,Paloma Da Silva Rolim,Giliard Lago Garcia

doi:10.1590/s1980-6574201700010010

Carlos Janssen Gomes Da Cruz, Deleon De Souza Pires + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s1980-6574201700010010

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate reproducibility of heart rate variability threshold (HRVT) and parasympathetic reactivation in physically active men (n= 16, 24.3 ± 5.1 years). During the test, HRVT was assessed by SD1 and r-MSSD dynamics. Immediately after exercise, r-MSSD was analyzed in segments of 60 seconds for a period of five minutes. High absolute and relatively reproducible analysis of HRVT were observed, as assessed by SD1 and r-MSSD dynamics (ICC = 0.92, CV = 10.8, SEM = 5.8). During the recovery phase, a moderate to high reproducibility was observed for r-MSSD from the first to the fifth minute (ICC = 0.69-0.95, CV = 7.5-14.2, SEM = 0.07-1.35). We conclude that HRVT and r-MSSD analysis after a submaximal stress test are highly reproducible measures that might be used to assess the acute and chronic effects of exercise training on cardiac autonomic modulation during and/or after a submaximal stress test.

Highlights

Assessment of cardiac autonomic nervous system modulation during an incremental stress test or during the recovery phase has been considered a promising strategy for risk stratification and exercise prescription for different populations[1,2,3,4,5]
Considering the hemodynamic variables evaluated at rest condition, no significant differences were observed between the three trials (p = 0.30–0.62, Table 1)
No differences were observed in heart rate variability threshold (HRVT), as evaluated by SD1 (p = 0.86) and r-MSSD (p = 0.86)

Summary

Introduction

Assessment of cardiac autonomic nervous system modulation during an incremental stress test or during the recovery phase has been considered a promising strategy for risk stratification and exercise prescription for different populations[1,2,3,4,5]. Time-domain analysis and Poincaré method plotting of spontaneous heart rate variability (HRV) based on an R-R interval (i-RR) series is a feasible, non-invasive tool for evaluating cardiac autonomic modulation in different functional conditions[7,10]. These allow an indirect inference about cardiac autonomic nervous system control on the sinus node[6,7,9]. The point where the values in these two parasympathetic indices are stabilized is called the heart rate variability threshold (HRVT) and is considered an indicator of parasympathetic deactivation during an incremental exercise test[6,7,11]

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