Why the study?
Can peak-to-peak variations in heart periods (VHP) be used as a noninvasive indicator of parasympathetic control of heart rate in normal volunteers?
Can peak-to-peak variations in heart periods (VHP) be used as a noninvasive indicator of parasympathetic control of heart rate in normal volunteers?
Peak-to-peak variations in heart periods (VHP) can serve as a reliable, noninvasive indicator of parasympathetic control of heart rate at rest without the need for pharmacologic blockade.
Supports VHP for noninvasive parasympathetic assessment in volunteers; leaves open validation in disease states before adoption.
The degree of parasympathetic control of heart rate was assessed by the abolition of respiratory sinus arrhythmia with atropine. Peak-to-peak variations in heart periods (VHP) before atropine injection correlated significantly (r = 0.90, P less than 0.001) with parasympathetic control, indicating that VHP alone may be used as a noninvasive indicator of the parasympathetic control of heart rate. Pharmacologic blockade of beta-adrenergic supply in a separate group of normal volunteers did not alter the relationship between VHP and parasympathetic control, indicating that the condition of the experiment (complete rest in a quiet atmosphere) allows the use of VHP alone without pharmacologic interventions to characterize the vagal control of heart rate in humans.
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Fouad et al. (1984) studied this question.
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