Key Points
- To describe methods for evaluating autonomic tone and summarize their prognostic significance in patients with heart failure or prior myocardial infarction.
- Reviewed clinical assessment techniques measuring autonomic tone, focusing on heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity.
- Evaluated clinical evidence linking autonomic dysfunction metrics to post-infarction and heart failure outcomes.
- Impaired baroreflex control of heart period independently correlates with worse prognosis and adverse clinical outcomes following acute myocardial infarction and in heart failure.
- Techniques such as heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity provide prognostic value but remain absent from routine clinical workflow.
Structured PICO
PPopulationPatients with heart failure and following acute myocardial infarction
IInterventionAssessment of autonomic tone (heart rate variability or baroreflex sensitivity)
Impaired baroreflex control is associated with adverse prognosis in heart failure and post-MI patients, highlighting the potential prognostic value of autonomic tone assessment.