Autonomic Dysfunction Increases Cardiovascular Risk in the Presence of Sleep Apnea

Citations Over TimeTop 12% of 2019 papers

Abstract

The high prevalence of sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) and its direct relationship with an augmented risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) have raised SAS as a primary public health problem. For this reason, extensive research aiming to understand the interaction between both conditions has been conducted. The advances in non-invasive autonomic nervous system (ANS) monitoring through heart rate variability (HRV) analysis have revealed an increased sympathetic dominance in subjects suffering from SAS when compared with controls. Similarly, HRV analysis of subjects with CVD suggests altered autonomic activity. In this work, we investigated the altered autonomic control in subjects suffering from SAS and CVD simultaneously when compared with SAS patients, as well as the possibility that ANS assessment may be useful for the early stage identification of cardiovascular risk in subjects with SAS. The analysis was performed over 199 subjects from two independent datasets during night-time, and the effects of the physiological response following an apneic episode, sleep stages, and respiration on HRV were taken into account. Results, as measured by HRV, suggest a decreased sympathetic dominance in those subjects suffering from both conditions, as well as in subjects with SAS that will develop CVDs, which was reflected in a significantly reduced sympathovagal balance (p < 0.05). In this way, ANS monitoring could contribute to improve screening and diagnosis, and eventually aid in the phenotyping of patients, as an altered response might have direct implications on cardiovascular health.

Related Papers

• → Assessment of Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Activities of Nervous System from Heart Rate Variability Using Machine Learning Techniques(2023)14 cited
• → The Importance of Time-Domain HRV Analysis in Cardiac Health Prediction(2023)8 cited
• → Analysis of heart rate variability in the measurement of the activity of the autonomic nervous system: technical note.(2014)9 cited
• → Influence of daytime blue-enriched bright light on heart rate variability in healthy subjects(2022)3 cited
• Analysis of heart rate variability in the measurement of the activity of the autonomic nervous system: technical note. Análise da variabilidade da frequência cardíaca na mensuração da atividade do sistema nervoso autônomo: nota técnica.(2014)