J Korean Diabetes.  2014 Dec;15(4):211-215. 10.4093/jkd.2014.15.4.211.

Heart Rate Variability and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

• Kim TH
• Kim JY

• KMID: 2173866
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4093/jkd.2014.15.4.211

Abstract

The analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) has recently been established as a non-invasive measurement method for estimation of autonomic nervous system function in the cardiovascular system. HRV reflects the interaction of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and the regulation of the cardiovascular system by the autonomic nervous system, and various measures of HRV, such as time-domain, frequency domain, and non-linear measures of HR variability, have been used in risk stratification of cardiovascular disease. Many studies have demonstrated that patients with reduced HRV have an increased risk of mortality after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or after a diagnosis of heart failure. HRV performed late after AMI (> 6 wks) better predicts sudden cardiac death and fatal arrhythmia than does HRV at the early phase after AMI, suggesting that impaired recovery of the autonomic nervous system and remodeling of the arrhythmia substrate after AMI may play critical roles in the mechanism of sudden cardiac death. Therefore, early measurement of HRV to identify high risk patients might be repeated later in order to investigate and follow the risk of sudden cardiac death. Future randomized trials using HRV as one of the inclusion criteria should determine whether routine measurement of HR variability can be a useful routine clinical tool for risk stratification in cardiovascular disease.

Keyword

Heart rate; Cardiovascular diseases; Myocardial infarction; Autonomic nervous system

MeSH Terms

Arrhythmias, Cardiac
Autonomic Nervous System
Cardiovascular Diseases*
Cardiovascular System
Death, Sudden, Cardiac
Diagnosis
Heart Failure
Heart Rate*
Humans
Mortality
Myocardial Infarction
Parasympathetic Nervous System