Impact of COVID-19 on heart rate variability in post-COVID individuals compared to a control group

• Published in: Scientific reports 2024-12, Vol.14 (1), p.31099-16, Article 31099
• Main Authors: Santos-de-Araújo, Aldair Darlan, Bassi-Dibai, Daniela, Marinho, Renan Shida, Dourado, Izadora Moraes, de Almeida, Lucivalda Viegas, de Sousa dos Santos, Sigrid, Phillips, Shane A., Borghi-Silva, Audrey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/114; 692/4019/592; 692/699/1785; 692/699/255/2514; 692/699/375; Adult; Aged; Autonomic nervous system; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - physiopathology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dyslipidemia; Female; Heart rate; Heart Rate - physiology; Heart rate variability; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Hypertension; Infections; Male; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Parasympathetic nervous system; Regression analysis; SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Variance analysis
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-82411-w

This study investigated the impact of mild COVID-19 on HRV in groups stratified by time after infection and to compare to a healthy group of the same age without previous virus infection and without need of hospitalization. This is a cross-sectional study. We divided the sample into four groups: control group (CG) ( n  = 31), group 1 (G1): ≤6 weeks ( n  = 34), group 2 (G2): 2–6 months ( n  = 30), group 3 (G3): 7–12 months ( n  = 35) after infection. For HRV analysis, we used the indices of linear (time and frequency domain) and non-linear analysis. For comparisons between groups, ANOVA one way test or Kruskal–Wallis was used according to the data distribution. The effect size was calculated based on Cohen’s d or η 2 . Simple and multiple linear regressions were performed to investigate the interaction between clinical outcomes and HRV parameters. A total of 130 individuals were included. Groups G1 and G2 showed less parasympathetic modulation when compared to CG ( p