A comparative study of heart rate variability (HRV) among adult hypertensive and normotensive subjects in the supine position

Manoranjan Mondal; Sujoy P. Bhattacharyya

doi:10.1515/jbcpp-2024-0051

Article

A comparative study of heart rate variability (HRV) among adult hypertensive and normotensive subjects in the supine position

Manoranjan Mondal and Sujoy P. Bhattacharyya

Published/Copyright: March 10, 2025

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From the journal Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology Volume 36 Issue 2-3

Abstract

Objectives

To compare heart rate variability (HRV) among adult Hypertensive and Normotensive subjects in supine position.

Methods

It was an analytical cross sectional study conducted on two study groups. The cases (n=60) comprised of outpatients (males and females in the age group 20–50 yrs) attending the Medicine OPD of Medical Collage, Kolkata, who were newly diagnosed as cases of hypertension according to JNC seven criteria while the control group (n=50) comprised of age and sex-matched adult normotensive subjects, who were non-smokers, non-alcoholics and were not suffering from any major cardiac, neurological or chronic illnesses. HRV profiling through short-term (5 min) ECG recording of each subject was carried out in the supine position with the help of a digital ECG recording machine (RMS-Polyrite D), with a sampling rate of 256 Hz. From the data so collected, various HRV parameters – both time domain (SDNN, RMSSD, NN50 and pNN50) and frequency domain (VLF, LF and HF) were calculated. Analysis of these parameters revealed the pattern of autonomic influence (sympathetic or parasympathetic predominance) prevalent among the subjects of the study and control groups.

Results

An overall reduction of the time domain parameters SDNN and RMSSD (considered more as markers of sympathetic activity) and frequency domain parameters (total power, LF and HF, all expressed in ms²), which are markers of parasympathetic activity, was noted among the hypertensive subjects. However, the reduction in frequency domain parameters was much more (highly significantly) than that of time domain parameters. Also, both age and hypertension had significant independent effects on HRV but their 3-way interaction was found to be statistically insignificant.

Conclusions

The findings of the study thus points towards an autonomic dysregulation (characterized by decreased vagal activity and increased sympathetic activity), as an underlying basis (i.e. an important factor, among others) for hypertension.

Keywords: autonomic dysregulation; heart rate variability; hypertension

Corresponding author: Dr. Sujoy P. Bhattacharyya, Department of Physiology, Medical College and Hospital Kolkata, 88, College Street, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700073, India, E-mail: drsujoy130@gmail.com

Research ethics: The study was conducted after being approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Medical College, Kolkata, India.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study, or their legal guardians or wards.
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
Research funding: None declared.
Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.

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Received: 2024-03-30

Accepted: 2025-01-22

Published Online: 2025-03-10

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jbcpp-2024-0051

Keywords for this article

autonomic dysregulation; heart rate variability; hypertension