Cardiac parasympathetic index identifies subjects with adult obstructive sleep apnea: A simultaneous polysomnographic-heart rate variability study

• Published in: PloS one 2018-03, Vol.13 (3), p.e0193879-e0193879
• Main Authors: Salsone, Maria, Vescio, Basilio, Quattrone, Andrea, Roccia, Ferdinando, Sturniolo, Miriam, Bono, Francesco, Aguglia, Umberto, Gambardella, Antonio, Quattrone, Aldo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analysis; Apnea; Biology and Life Sciences; Cardiovascular disease; Case-Control Studies; Circadian Rhythm - physiology; Circadian rhythms; Control methods; Diagnosis; Engineering and Technology; Fluctuations; Heart Conduction System - physiopathology; Heart diseases; Heart rate; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - complications; Indexing; Insomnia; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Neurology; Neurosciences; Night; Obesity - complications; Parasympathetic nervous system; Parasympathetic Nervous System - physiopathology; Patients; Physical Sciences; Physiology; Polysomnography; Quality of life; Research and Analysis Methods; Sensitivity and Specificity; Severity of Illness Index; Sleep; Sleep apnea; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - complications; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - diagnosis; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - physiopathology; Sleep disorders; Studies; Task forces; Variability
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193879

To evaluate circadian fluctuations and night/day ratio of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) spectral components in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in comparison with controls. This is a simultaneous HRV-polysomnographic (PSG) study including 29 patients with OSA and 18 age-sex-matched controls. Four patients with OSA dropped out. All participants underwent PSG and HRV analysis. We measured the 24-hour fluctuations and the night/day ratio of low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) spectral components of HRV in all subjects and controls. The LF night/day ratio was termed the cardiac sympathetic index while the HF night/day ratio was termed the cardiac parasympathetic index. All twenty-five OSA patients were PSG positive (presence of OSA) while 18 controls were PSG negative (absence of OSA). There was no significant difference in LF and HF 24-hour fluctuation values between OSA patients and controls. In OSA patients, LF and HF values were significantly higher during night-time than day time recordings (p