Heart rate variability in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a systematic review and methodological considerations

Lupus ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1225-1239 ◽  
Author(s):  
P S Matusik ◽  
P T Matusik ◽  
P K Stein

Aim The aim of this review was to summarize current knowledge about the scientific findings and potential clinical utility of heart rate variability measures in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Methods PubMed, Embase and Scopus databases were searched for the terms associated with systemic lupus erythematosus and heart rate variability, including controlled vocabulary, when appropriate. Articles published in English and available in full text were considered. Finally, 11 publications were selected, according to the systematic review protocol and were analyzed. Results In general, heart rate variability, measured in the time and frequency domains, was reported to be decreased in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus compared with controls. In some systemic lupus erythematosus studies, heart rate variability was found to correlate with inflammatory markers and albumin levels. A novel heart rate variability measure, heart rate turbulence onset, was shown to be increased, while heart rate turbulence slope was decreased in systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Reports of associations of changes in heart rate variability parameters with increasing systemic lupus erythematosus activity were inconsistent, showing decreasing heart rate variability or no relationship. However, the low/high frequency ratio was, in some studies, reported to increase with increasing disease activity or to be inversely correlated with albumin levels. Conclusions Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus have abnormal heart rate variability, which reflects cardiac autonomic dysfunction and may be related to inflammatory cytokines but not necessarily to disease activity. Thus measurement of heart rate variability could be a useful clinical tool for monitoring autonomic dysfunction in systemic lupus erythematosus, and may potentially provide prognostic information.

Lupus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
A R Poliwczak ◽  
E Waszczykowska ◽  
B Dziankowska-Bartkowiak ◽  
M Koziróg ◽  
K Dworniak

Background Systemic lupus erythematosus is a progressive autoimmune disease. There are reports suggesting that patients even without overt signs of cardiovascular complications have impaired autonomic function. The aim of this study was to assess autonomic function using heart rate turbulence and heart rate variability parameters indicated in 24-hour ECG Holter monitoring. Methods Twenty-six women with systemic lupus erythematosus and 30 healthy women were included. Twenty-four hour ambulatory ECG-Holter was performed in home conditions. The basic parameters of heart rate turbulence and heart rate variability were calculated. The analyses were performed for the entire day and separately for daytime activity and night time rest. Results There were no statistically significant differences in the basic anthropometric parameters. The mean duration of disease was 11.52 ± 7.42. There was a statistically significant higher turbulence onset (To) value in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, median To = –0.17% (minimum –1.47, maximum 3.0) versus To = –1.36% (minimum –4.53, maximum –0.41), P < 0.001. There were no such differences for turbulence slope (Ts). In the 24-hour analysis almost all heart rate variability parameters were significantly lower in the systemic lupus erythematosus group than in the healthy controls, including SDANN and r-MSSD and p50NN. Concerning the morning activity and night resting periods, the results were similar as for the whole day. In the control group, higher values in morning activity were noted for parameters that characterise sympathetic activity, especially SDANN, and were significantly lower for parasympathetic parameters, including r-MSSD and p50NN, which prevailed at night. There were no statistically significant changes for systemic lupus erythematosus patients for p50NN and low and very low frequency. There was a positive correlation between disease duration and SDNN, R = 0.417; P < 0.05 and SDANN, R = 0.464; P < 0.05, a negative correlation between low/high frequency ratio and r-MSSD, R = –0.454; P < 0.05; p50NN, R = –0.435; P < 0.05 and high frequency, R = –0.478; P < 0.05. In contrast, there was no statistically significant correlation between heart rate turbulence and other variables evaluated, including disease duration and the type of autoantibodies. Conclusion: Our study confirms the presence of autonomic disorders with respect to both heart rate variability and heart rate turbulence parameters and the presence of diurnal disturbances of sympathetic–parasympathetic balance. Further studies are required.


Lupus ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 096120332110503
Author(s):  
Nitish Jawahar ◽  
Jessica K Walker ◽  
Philip I Murray ◽  
Caroline Gordon ◽  
John A Reynolds

Objective Ophthalmic complications in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) are broad and can occur in up to a third of patients. The British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) 2004 Index identifies 13 ocular manifestations of active SLE, as opposed to those related to previous disease activity and/or the consequences of therapy. We conducted a systematic review of published literature to determine the frequency of ophthalmic manifestations of active SLE. Methods A systematic literature search of Ovid MEDLINE and EMBASE from their respective inceptions to July 2020 was conducted to identify cohort, case–control and cross-sectional studies. Results 22 studies meeting eligibility criteria were included. Most studies featured small sample sizes and were judged to have a high risk of methodological bias. The number and quality of studies did not allow us to confidently estimate the incidence of the conditions. No studies reported epidemiological data for orbital inflammation/myositis/proptosis. The prevalence of each of the other ocular manifestations, with the exception of retinal vaso-occlusive disease, was consistently less than 5%. Retinal vasculitis, uveitis and isolated cotton wool spots tended to be associated with more active SLE disease. Conclusion The prevalence of eye disease due to SLE activity is uncommon, but clinicians should be aware that some conditions tend to be associated with more active systemic disease. Further studies to determine the incidence and risk factors for these ophthalmic manifestations are needed.


QJM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
D A Hussein ◽  
A B E Abdelaziz ◽  
A M Abdelmoteleb ◽  
M A Elserwy ◽  
S G Arafa

Abstract Background involvement of central and peripheral nervous systems are well-documented in SLE but literature on prevalence and pattern of autonomic neuropathy are few. Women with SLE have been found to have 5-8 fold increased risk of coronary heart disease. Autonomic dysfunction in the presence of structural cardiovascular disease is associated with adverse prognosis. Aim of the Work the purpose of this study is to evaluate the cardiovascular autonomic function in patients with Systemic lupus erythematosus, and to correlate it with SLE clinical features. Patients and Methods we conducted our study on one-hundred Egyptian SLE patients diagnosed according to SLICC classification criteria for SLE recruited from rheumatology outpatient clinic and inpatient department at Ain Shams University Hospitals. All the studied patients were subjected to history taking, clinical examination, and laboratory and radiological investigations related to SLE diagnosis and activity. SLE disease activity was assessed by SLE disease activity index-2000 (SLEDAI-2K).Tilt table test was used to assess for presence of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy. Results we found that fifty (50%) of our SLE patients had symptoms suggestive for autonomic dysfunction, including orthostatic hypotension, palpitation and or Raynaud’s phenomenon. Regarding the result of tilt table test, sixty eight (68%) of the studied SLE patients were found to have positive tilt table responses. By doing the uni-variate analysis for predictors of SLE patients with positive tilt table test, we found that vasculitis, proteinuria, DNA, low TLC and complement levels, high SLEDAI, ESR and urinary P/C all were predictors for positivity of tilt table testing. Conclusion The prevalence of autonomic dysfunction was high among SLE patients.


Lupus ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
KS Stein ◽  
IC McFarlane ◽  
N. Goldberg ◽  
EM Ginzler

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