Journal
JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE
Volume 54, Issue 3, Pages 273-279Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2017.10.020
Keywords
heart rate variability; chest pain; bradycardia; emergency department
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Funding
- Singapore National Medical Research Council National Health Innovation Centre Innovation to Develop Grant [NHIC-I2D-1409014]
- SingHealth Foundation [SHF/FG543P/2013]
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Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) is a noninvasive method to measure the function of the autonomic nervous system. It has been used to risk stratify patients with undifferentiated chest pain in the emergency department (ED). However, bradycardia can have a modifying effect on HRV. Objective: In this study, we aimed to determine how bradycardia affected HRV analysis in patients who presented with chest pain to the ED. Methods: Adult patients presenting to the ED at Singapore General Hospital with chest pain were included in the study. Patients with non-sinus rhythm on electrocardiogram (ECG) were excluded. HRV parameters, including time domain, frequency domain, and nonlinear variables, were analyzed from a 5-min ECG segment. Occurrence of a major adverse cardiac event ([ MACE], e.g., acute myocardial infarction, percutaneous coronary intervention, coronary artery bypass graft, or mortality) within 30 days of presentation to the ED was also recorded. Results: A total of 797 patients were included for analysis with 248 patients (31.1%) with 30-day MACE and 135 patients with bradycardia (16.9%). Compared to non-bradycardic patients, bradycardic patients had significant differences in all HRV parameters suggesting an increased parasympathetic component. Among non-bradycardic patients, comparing those who did and did not have 30-day MACE, there were significant differences predominantly in time domain variables, suggesting decreased HRV. In bradycardic patients, the same analysis revealed significant differences in predominantly frequency-domain variables suggesting decreased parasympathetic input. Conclusions: Chest pain patients with bradycardia have increased HRV compared to those without bradycardia. This may have important implications on HRV modeling strategies for risk stratification of bradycardic and non-bradycardic chest pain patients. (c) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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