Key result
Long COVID was associated with significantly reduced heart rate variability at rest, including lower Mean iRR (716.9 vs 948.2 ms, p<0.001), compared to healthy controls.
Why the study?
Persistent symptoms after COVID-19 infection, characterized as Long COVID, may be associated with cardiac and autonomic dysfunction.
Does Long COVID affect heart rate variability at rest and during deep breathing in patients recovering from COVID-19?
Case-Control (n=41)
No
Does Long COVID affect heart rate variability at rest and during deep breathing in patients recovering from COVID-19?
Absolute Event Rate: 716.9% vs 948.2%
p-value: p=<0.001
Long COVID is associated with significant impairment in cardiac autonomic control, evidenced by reduced heart rate variability at rest and during deep breathing.
HRV differences may indicate autonomic involvement in Long COVID; leaves open clinical utility pending larger prospective studies.
While the majority of individuals with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) recovercompletely, a significant percentage experience persistent symptoms, which has beencharacterized as Long COVID and may be associated with cardiac and autonomicdysfunction. We evaluated heart rate variability (HRV) at rest and during deep-breathing(M-RSA) in patients with Long COVID. Case-control design involved 21 patients with LongCOVID and 20 controls; the HRV was evaluated (Polar® system) at rest in the supineposition and during M-RSA and expressed in time domain and non-linear analysis. We foundthat Long COVID in patients resulted in a reduction HRV measures compared to controls:Supine [Mean_iRR=716.9±948.2 vs 948.2±99.6 p<0.001; STD_iRR=12.7±6.9 vs 45.6±20.7p<0.001; STD_HR=1.7±0.7 vs 3.1±1.2 p<0.001; SD1=6.9±4.1 vs 29.5±14.4 p<0.001;SD2=16.4±9.0 vs 56.7±25.6 p<0.001; alpha2=0.5±0.2 vs 0.7±0.1 p<0.001)]; M-RSA:[Mean_iRR=685.9±97.4 vs 845.3±112.4 p<0.001; STD_iRR=24.8±14.9 vs 95.7±111.8p<0.001; Mean_HR=89.4±12.9 vs 72.8±10.3 p<0.001; STD_HR=3.2±1.3 vs 6.0±2.1p<0.001; rMSSD=14.7±8.7 vs 45.2±19.9 p<0.001; RR_tri-index=6.2±3.4 vs 15.1±3.3p<0.001)]. In conclusion, Long COVID negatively impacted HRV at rest and duringdeep-breathing. These findings may imply impairment of cardiac autonomic control whensymptoms of COVID-19 persist following initial recovery.
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Silva et al. (2023) conducted a case-control in Long COVID (n=41). Long COVID vs. Healthy controls was evaluated on Mean iRR at rest (supine position) (p=<0.001). Long COVID was associated with significantly reduced heart rate variability at rest, including lower Mean iRR (716.9 vs 948.2 ms, p<0.001), compared to healthy controls.
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