Gender influence on heart rate variability in Cameroonian handballers

Background Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a useful tool for evaluating the heart's ability to adjust to external loads. This study aimed to assess the gender impact on cardiac autonomic modulation response in Cameroonian handballers. Method ology: A prospective analytical study was conducted on sports teams. Participants were divided into three groups; people who practiced little or no sporting activity (sedentary, male), those who were regularly physically active in a handball team (male and female athletes). Resting Heart Rate (HR) was recorded for 10 min and analysed. Results Male players had significantly higher HR than women (68.75 vs 60.38; p < 0.001). SDNN (Standard Deviation of the inter-beat interval of normal sinus beats), RMSSD (Root Mean Square of the Successive Differences) and pNN 50 (proportion of successive NN intervals that differ by more than 50 ms) were lower in sedentary people (16.22; 9.97; 0.16) than in male handballers group (29.00; 16.44; 2.15; p < 0.001 and p < 0.05). Very-low-frequency relative power was higher in male players than in female players (30.82 vs 21.29; p < 0.05). However, male Low-Frequency relative power, High-Frequency absolute and relative power (69.26; 3.46 and 6.96) were significantly lower than in female players (77.12; 4.19 and 9.67, with p < 0.05; p < 0.05; p < 0.01 respectively). The effect size for gender was low for the Low–Frequency parameter. Conclusion The findings revealed an association between sports practice and high HRV values but do not allow for a clear conclusion regarding the impact of gender on the parasympathetic and sympathetic parameters determining HRV.