Characteristics of cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction and association with quality of life in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

ObjectivesCardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) may affect the clinical course of SLE leading to reduced quality of life. CAN is assessed by heart rate variability (HRV) measures and cardiovascular autonomic reflex tests (CARTs). In patients with SLE, we aimed to determine the characteristics of CAN and if CAN associates with health-related quality of life (HRQoL).MethodsPatients with SLE and healthy controls (HCs) were CAN tested with 5 min HRV and three CARTs to determine parameters reflecting parasympathetic and mixed sympathetic–parasympathetic function. Subjects were classified as having no, early or definitive CAN by having none, one or more than one abnormal CART, respectively. HRQoL as determined by the Short Form 12 (SF-12) was assessed in SLE.ResultsOf 111 patients with SLE, 92 answered the SF-12 and 54 were matched with 54 HCs for characterisation of CAN. Definitive CAN was present in 24.1% (95% CI 15% to 37%) patients with SLE and 1.9% (95% CI 0.3% to 9.8%) HCs (OR 16.8, 95% CI 2.1 to 133.8, p=0.008). The corresponding prevalences of any CAN were 53.7% (95% CI 41% to 66%) and 22.6% (95% CI 13% to 35%). SLE patients with definitive CAN showed signs of mixed sympathetic–parasympathetic dysfunction, whereas patients without CAN primarily presented with impaired parasympathetic activity. Signs of parasympathetic as well as sympathetic–parasympathetic dysfunction were associated with low physical SF-12 component score (all: β>0.211, p<0.05). The mental SF-12 component score was not associated with any CAN indices.ConclusionsCAN was a frequent finding in SLE and associated to self-report on impaired physical HRQoL. Even patients without CAN showed signs of impaired parasympathetic function compared with controls.

Horner syndrome: tribute to Professor Horner on his 190th birthday

This paper reviews some aspects of the life and work of Professor Johann Friedrich Horner, on the occasion of the 190th anniversary of his birthday and 152 years after the publication of "Über eine Form von Ptosis". It also shows the importance of the historical description of ptosis, myosis and anhidrosis associating those symptoms with sympathetic cervical damage. He pharmacologically confirmed the impairment of sympathetic innervation to the eye and preserved parasympathetic function.

Self-Reported Emotion Regulation Is Associated With Response to Test of Cardiac Vagal Function

Parasympathetic function and emotional self-regulation (ESR) share neuroanatomic structures. Based on Porges’ Polyvagal Theory and the Neurovisceral Integration Model (NIM), we compared vagally mediated heart-rate variability (vmHRV) with psychometrically assessed ESR. We hypothesized that vmHRV and ESR would be associated during rest, a vagal function test, and recovery from that test. A significant association would justify the psychometric measuring of parasympathetic health, which is less burdensome than its psychophysiological assessment. Two hundred thirteen healthy males (aged: 18–26 years, M = 20.29 years) took part in the present study. They completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and underwent the Cold Face Test (CFT) for 4 min wearing ambulatory electrocardiograms. A High frequency (HF) band was used as a measure of vmHRV before, during, and after the CFT. Associations between the HF band and ESR were analyzed with partial rank correlations. There was no significant association between ERQ scores and the response to the CFT itself. But there was an almost significant association between the ERQ scale Cognitive Appraisal and baseline vmHRV, and a significant association between Cognitive Appraisal and cardiac recovery from the CFT, that is, participants with higher scores on that ESR scale revealed a tendency to exhibit greater vmHRV during baseline and they exhibited greater vagal withdrawal during recovery from the CFT. Cognitive appraisal as a psychometrically assessed emotion regulatory process was reflected in a more flexible parasympathetic activity (i.e., better cardiac vagal health) during recovery from an exclusively physiological stressor. This lends convergent validity to self-reported emotion regulation, and justification for its use as a measure of ESR as a trait, offering further support for the Polyvagal Theory and NIM.

Effect of Aging on Postural tachycardial index in healthy Subjects

Introduction: The change in parasympathetic function is generally known physiological changes in aging of man. The present study was intended to evaluate Postural tachycardial index with age. Aim: To measure basal parasympathetic activity by using Postural tachycardial index in younger and elderly and to observe effect of aging on it. Materials and Methods: The subjects selected are 120 in number with age group 35 to >65 years of both sex and they are categorized into 4 groups based on their age. Group- I: The age of 35-45 years; Group-II: The age of 45- 55 years; Group-III: The age of 55-65 Years; Group-IV: The age of >65 years. PTI was measured by using ECG machine. Results: The examination of parameters body mass index, Heart Rate during resting, immediate standing were estimated for all subjects. The data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Discussion: The findings suggested that the mean of PTI decreases statistically in group III and IV. Conclusion: This study concluded that due to autonomic dysfunction the PTI decreases with increase in age. KEY WORDS: Postural tachycardial index, Body mass index, heart rate, Autonomic dysfunction.

Heart rate variability in patients with dementia or neurocognitive disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Heart rate variability, a quantitative measure of mainly parasympathetic activity, has been applied in evaluating many types of psychiatric and neurological disorders, including dementia (or neurocognitive disorders). However, although dementia patients often showed significantly lower heart rate variability (various indices) than healthy controls, and different types of dementia had distinct heart rate variability features, the results were not identical across studies. We designed a systematic review and meta-analysis for incorporating data from different studies. Methods: We gathered studies comparing heart rate variability in patients with dementia and in healthy controls. Heart rate variability was analysed in several ways: parasympathetic function in hierarchical order (main analysis), total variability, comparison of heart rate variability between different subtypes of dementia, specific indices of heart rate variability and heart rate variability reactivity. Results: In the initial search, we found 3425 relevant articles, from which 24 studies with a total of 1107 dementia patients and 1017 control participants finally entered the main meta-analysis. The dementia patients had a significantly lower resting heart rate variability for parasympathetic function (Hedges’ g = −0.3596, p = 0.0002) and total variability (Hedges’ g = −0.3059, p = 0.0002) than the controls. For diagnostic subgroup analysis relative to the controls, heart rate variability was significantly lower in patients with mild cognitive impairment (Hedges’ g = −0.3060) and in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (Hedges’ g = −1.4154, p < 0.0001). Relative to patients with Alzheimer’s disease, heart rate variability in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies was significantly lower (Hedges’ g = −1.5465, p = 0.0381). Meta-regression revealed that gender proportion was significantly associated with effect size. Conclusion: Our results show that dementia patients (especially those with dementia with Lewy bodies and mild cognitive impairment) have lower parasympathetic activity than healthy people. The influence of gender on the results should be carefully interpreted.

First-in-human imaging and kinetic analysis of vesicular acetylcholine transporter density in the heart using [18F]FEOBV PET

In contrast to cardiac sympathetic activity which can be assessed with established PET tracers, there are currently no suitable radioligands to measure cardiac parasympathetic (cholinergic) activity. A radioligand able to measure cardiac cholinergic activity would be an invaluable clinical and research tool since cholinergic dysfunction has been associated with a wide array of pathologies (e.g., chronic heart failure, myocardial infarction, arrythmias). [18F]Fluoroethoxybenzovesamicol (FEOBV) is a cholinergic radiotracer that has been extensively validated in the brain. Whether FEOBV PET can be used to assess cholinergic activity in the heart is not known. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the properties of FEOBV for cardiac PET imaging and cholinergic activity mapping. PET data were collected for 40 minutes after injection of 230 ± 50 MBq of FEOBV in four healthy participants (1 female; Age: 37 ± 10; BMI: 25 ± 2). Dynamic LV time activity curves were fitted with Logan graphical, 1-tissue compartment, and 2-tissue compartment models, yielding similar distribution volume estimates for each participant. Our initial data show that FEOBV PET has favorable tracer kinetics for quantification of cholinergic activity and is a promising new method for assessing parasympathetic function in the heart.

Impact of Heart Rate Fragmentation on the Assessment of Heart Rate Variability

Heart rate fragmentation (HRF) is a type of sinoatrial instability characterized by frequent (often every beat) appearance of inflection in the R-R interval time series, despite the electrocardiograms appearing to be sinus rhythm. Because the assessment of parasympathetic function by heart rate variability (HRV) analysis depends on the assumption that the high-frequency component (HF, 0.15–0.4 Hz) of HRV is mediated solely by the cardiac parasympathetic nerve, HRF that is measured as a part of HF power confounds the parasympathetic functional assessment by HRV. In this study, we analyzed HRF in a 24-h electrocardiogram big data and investigated the changes in HRF with age and sex and its influence on the assessment of HRV. We observed that HRF is often observed during childhoods (0–20 year) and increased after 75 year, but it has a large impact on individual differences in HF power at ages 60–90.

Is autonomic function during resting-state atypical in Autism: A systematic review of evidence

Theories of differences in resting-state arousal in autistic individuals are influential. Differences in arousal during resting-state would impact engagement and adaptation to the environment, having a cascading effect on development of attentional and social skills. In this review, we evaluate the evidence for differences in autonomic arousal during resting-state in autistic individuals, and importantly, whether there are contextual or methodological factors that impact reports of such differences. We carried out a systematic review of the literature on 60 studies, which measured autonomic function (using indices of heart rate, pupillometry or electrodermal activity) during rest or a pre-task baseline. Of the 51 studies that investigated group differences between neurotypical and autistic participants, 60.8% of the studies found evidence of group differences. While findings of hyperarousal were more common, particularly using indices of parasympathetic function, findings of hypoarousal and autonomic dysregulation were also consistently present. Importantly, experimental context played a role in revealing such differences. The evidence is discussed with regard to important methodological factors and implications for future research are described.