| Title | Impaired heart rate variability in euthymic bipolar patients. | ||
| Author | Cohen, Hagit; Kaplan, Zeev; Kotler, Moshe; Mittelman, Irena; Osher, Yamima; Bersudsky, Yuly | ||
| Journal | Bipolar Disord | Publication Year/Month | 2003-Apr |
| PMID | 12680904 | PMCID | -N/A- |
| Affiliation | 1.Ministry of Health Mental Health Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. hagitc@bgumail.bgu.ac.il. | ||
BACKGROUND: Power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) has recently been shown to be a reliable non-invasive test for quantitative assessment of the central sympathovagal interaction that modulates cardiovascular autonomic function. METHODS: We studied 39 euthymic bipolar patients and 39 controls, matched for age and sex. A high-resolution electrocardiogram was obtained during complete rest. Spectral analysis of R-R intervals was performed by the fast Fourier transform algorithm. RESULTS: Euthymic bipolar patients at rest are characterized by markedly low HRV, independent of specific drug treatments. CONCLUSION: While these results of autonomic stability in euthymic bipolar patients are counter-intuitive, the findings may be important in understanding pathophysiology of bipolar affective illness.