A Comparative Analytical Study of Heart Rate Variability in Young Indian Females and Young Non Resident Indian Females

Heart rate variability (HRV) is the simplest and most widely performed measure of cardiac autonomic function. Decreased HRV implicates an increased risk of arrhythmic events and increased mortality. HRV is influenced by genetic, many environmental and behavioral factors. The present study was an attempt to investigate the difference in the HRV between the people of same origin but born and brought up in a different social, environmental and cultural set up i.e. between the young Indian females and young Non-resident Indian (NRI) females.HRV of Sixteen Indian females students of mean age 18.41±0.5and seventeen NRI females students of mean age 18.63±0.5 were analyzed using HRV software.HRV was analyzed both by time domain and frequency domain methods during normal breathing.We observed that there was no statistically significant difference in the heart rate variability of Indians and NRIs. But the values of all the variables of time-domain method and HF power and FNU by frequency domain method during normal breathing were higher in Indians, which shows that probably Indians have a better parasympathetic tone compared to NRIs but it did not reach statistical significance level because of smaller sample size.