Title Cardiac Autonomic Modulation during on-Call Duty under Working Hours Restriction.
Author Chien, Jien-Wen; Chen, Chung-Yen; Lin, Sheng-Hsuan; Lin, Shih-Wen; Lin, Yu-Hsuan
Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health Publication Year/Month 2020-Feb
PMID 32050580 PMCID PMC7038185
Affiliation + expend 1.Department of Pediatrics, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua 50006, Taiwan.

Background: Medical residency is a time of high stress and long working hours, which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to investigate the autonomic modulation of resident physicians throughout the on-call duty cycle. Methods: Spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) was used to compute cardiac parasympathetic modulation (high-frequency power, HF) and cardiac sympathetic modulation (normalized low-frequency power, LF%, and the ratio of LF and HF, LF/HF) of 18 residents for a consecutive 4-day cycle. Results: Male residents show reduced cardiac sympathetic modulation (i.e., higher LF/HF and LF%) than the female interns. Medical residents\' cardiac parasympathetic modulation (i.e., HF) significantly increased on the first and the second post-call day compared with the pre-call day. In contrast, LF% was significantly decreased on the first and the second post-call day compared with the pre-call day. Similarly, LF/HF was significantly decreased on the second post-call day compared with the pre-call day. LF/HF significantly decreased on the first post-call day and on the second post-call day from on-call duty. Conclusion: The guideline that limits workweeks to 80 h and shifts to 28 h resulted in reduced sympathetic modulation and increased parasympathetic modulation during the two days following on-call duty.

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