Assessment of Autonomic Nervous Function with Power Spectral Analysis of Heart Rate Variability in Spinal Cord Injured Patients.
- Author:
Chang Il PARK
1
;
Joong Son CHON
;
Ji Cheol SHIN
;
Deog Yong KIM
;
Sung Rae CHO
Author Information
1. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Autonomic nervous function;
Heart rate variability;
Spinal cord injury
- MeSH:
Adult;
Electrocardiography;
Heart Rate*;
Heart*;
Humans;
Paraplegia;
Quadriplegia;
Spinal Cord Injuries;
Spinal Cord*;
Supine Position
- From:Journal of the Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine
2000;24(1):35-41
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the autonomic activities in spinal cord injured patients, and to compare their activities according to the level and completeness of spinal cord lesions. METHOD: Thirty-five spinal cord injured patients and thirty healthy adults participated in this study. The ECG signals were recorded at the tilt angle of 0o and 70o for 5 minutes, and power spectral analysis of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was done at each angle. RESULTS: The data reveals two major components such as a low-frequency (LF) component (0.05~0.15 Hz) reflecting primarily sympathetic activities with orthostatic stress, and a high- frequency (HF) component (0.2~0.3 Hz) reflecting parasympathetic activity. In supine position, all frequency components were not significantly different regardless the level and completeness of spinal cord lesion. At 70o head-up tilt position, the LF power and heart rate didn't increase in complete tetraplegia but significantly increased in paraplegia and healthy adults (p<0.05). However, the HF power didn't reveal any differences in four groups by decreasing significantly in all groups. CONCLUSION: We concluded that there is an abnormal control of autonomic activities especially the sympathetic function in complete tetraiplegia, compared with paraplegia and healthy adults.
