Author(s)

Itai Goldfarb¹, Kobi Serr², Shlomo Segev², Joseph Shemesh², Ilan Goldenberg³, Mickey Scheinowitz^1,4*

¹School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
²Institutes for Medical Screening & Cardiac Rehabilitation, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
³Clinical Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rchester, NY, USA.
⁴Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Objective: To examine the autonomic function using HRV measures in apparently healthy individuals undergoing exercise stress test (EST) and demonstrating slow HRR response. Methods: HRV was measured with 12 lead ECGs during graded EST and analyzed via a post-processing method. Autonomic function was determined by Power Spectral Analysis of the very low frequency (VLF), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), and the ratio of LF/HF. We correlated HRV indices with resting, exercise, and recovery data. Results: No differences were found in anthropometric measurements, peak EST HR, and METS between individuals with slow HRR (below 18 b/min) compared with controls (HRR > 18 b/min). Only the VLF component of the HRV indices was statistically different (p = 0.03) at one-minute post-exercise compared with controls. Additionally, a significant correlation between HRR and resting LF and HF indices was found in the individuals with slow HRR but not in the controls. Conclusion: In apparently healthy individuals with slow HRR post-EST, autonomic function did not demonstrate any differences at any phase of the EST, including at one minute of recovery. However, a significant correlation was found between resting LF and HF powers and HRR in individuals with slow vagal reactivation post-exercise. The clinical and prognostic implications of such observation deserve further investigation.

Heart Rate, Heart Rate Recovery, Heart Rate Variability, Exercise Stress Test

Goldfarb, I. , Serr, K. , Segev, S. , Shemesh, J. , Goldenberg, I. and Scheinowitz, M. (2022) Autonomic Function in Individuals with Slow Heart Rate Response following an Exercise Stress Test. World Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases, 12, 287-296. doi: 10.4236/wjcd.2022.126028.