Heart Rate Variability in Non-Athletes, Recreational and Professional Athletes and in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

Fromme A, Brüning K, Mooren FCh, Thorwesten L, Völker K

Abstract in digital collection (conference)

Abstract

Heart rate variability (HRV) is regarded as an indicator of autonomic balance and could therefore become an important tool in managing training processes. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the influence of training status and age on the parameters of HRV. From the data of a 10-min-ECG, HRV at rest was calculated by a heart rate analyzer both in the time and in the frequencydomain. The heart rate variations were segmented by means of a Fouriertransformation into three frequency spectral components: HF (high frequency, 0.15-0.35 Hz, parasympathetic influence), LF (low frequency, 0.05-0.15 Hz, combined influence), and VLF (verylow frequency, 0.016- 0.05 Hz, sympathetic influence). The investigation was performed in 28 non-athletes, 28 recreational athletes and 14 football professionals (age < 35 years) as weil as in 14 coronary heart disease (CHD) patients and a control group of 14 subjects ( age > 35 years ). The athletes, when compared to the non-athletes, showed clear but only partially significant changes of HRV parameters, indicating an increased vagal activity. The decrease of the HRV in CHD patients, as previously described, was confirmed, the differences to the other groups, however, were not significant when the age factor was neglected. The results indicate that for a practical usage of HRV measurements, further differentiated analyses arenecessary with inclusion of all vegetative influential factors and interactions.

Details zur Publikation

Publisher: Halle M
Release year: 1999
Publishing company: Thieme Verlag
Language in which the publication is written: English
Event: Stuttgart