Effects of chronic epilepsy on heart rate variability A case-control study

作     者：Yueloong Hsin Cheryl C H Yang Terry B J Kuo Tomor Harnod 

作者机构：School of MedicineTzu Chi University Department of NeurologyBuddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital Institute of Brain ScienceNational Yang Ming University Department of NeurosurgeryBuddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital 

出 版 物：《Neural Regeneration Research》 (中国神经再生研究（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2010年第5卷第2期

页      面：156-160页

核心收录：

学科分类：1002[医学-临床医学] 100204[医学-神经病学] 10[医学] 

基　　金：a Grant from the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital Hualien Taiwan 

主　　题：autonomic epilepsy heart rate parasympathetic sympathetic 

摘      要：BACKGROUND： Dysfunctional autonomic cardiac regulation is thought to be associated with high mortality in epileptic patients. OBJECTIVE： To explore changes in sympathetic and parasympathetic activities in epileptic patients with repetitive generalized tonic-clonic seizures by observing interictal heart rate. DESIGN, TIME AND SEI-I＇ING： A case-control study was performed at the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital from July 2006 to May 2009. PARTICIPANTS： A total of 30 patients, comprising 15 males and 15 females, who presented with chronic epilepsy and repetitive generalized tonic-clonic seizures according to International League Against Epilepsy guidelines （ILAE, 1989）, were selected. In addition, 30 matched, healthy volunteers were selected as controls. METHODS： Lead I electrocardiogram was performed in the epilepsy and control groups for 5 minutes during a daytime interictal period. Frequency-domain analysis of heart rate variability was performed using fast Fourier transformation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Heart rate interval, high frequency （HF; 0.15-0.45 Hz） power, low frequency （LF; 0.04-0.15 Hz） power, and LF/（HF ＋ LF） expressed in normalized units （LF%）. RESULTS： Compared with the control group, the epilepsy group exhibited a significantly lower mean heart rate interval and HF power, but a significantly greater LF% （P〈 0.01）. There was no significant difference in LF power between the groups （P = 0.17）. CONCLUSION： Patients with chronic epilepsy exhibited faster heart rates during interictal periods, which could contribute to hiclher sympathetic and lower parasympathetic activities.