BackgroundThe literature indicates that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects cardiac autonomic control. In this study, we conducted a literature review in order to investigate the heart rate variability (HRV) in COPD subjects.MethodsA search was performed in Medline database, using the link between the keywords: “autonomic nervous system”, “cardiovascular system”, “COPD” and “heart rate variability”.ResultsThe search resulted in a total of 40 references. Amongst these references, the first exclusion resulted in the barring of 29 titles and abstracts, which were not clearly related to the purpose of review. This resulted in a total of 11 articles that were then read and utilized in the review. The selected studies indicated that there is significant reduction of HRV in patients with COPD, characterized by reduction of indices that assess parasympathetic activity in addition to dealing with the global autonomic modulation. We also established that supervised exercise can reduce these harmful effects in COPD patients. Also, it was reported that the use of non-invasive ventilation in these patients may contribute to the improvement of respiratory symptoms, with no impairing, and may even induce positive responses in cardiac autonomic regulation.ConclusionThe studies indicate a need for further investigations to guide future therapies to improve the treatment of cardiovascular system in the respiratory diseases.

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Introduction: validated educational technologies favor access to reliable and adequate information, representing a critical risk communication tool for cancer patients during public health emergencies. Objective: to assess the validity and reliability of an electronic booklet on COVID-19 for adults with cancer. Methods: methodological validation by a panel of 22 experts linked to Brazil’s national curriculum vitae database. Sampling was performed by convenience, snowball, and selection techniques according to Jasper’s criteria. The validity of the booklet was evaluated by an electronic questionnaire using the content validity index (CVI), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), the suitability assessment of materials (SAM) instrument, and the metalinguistic thematic analysis for educational technologies (MeTA-Edu) of dissertation proposals. Results: the expert panel consisted of 22 doctors with homogeneous sociodemographic characteristics, high specialization in education (86.4%), and teaching experience (average = 17.8 years). In general, the educational technology was validated by experts for content (overall CVI = 0.953) with a high degree of agreement (ICC = 0.958) and suitability of the content, literacy demand, graphics, layout, and typography, learning stimulation and motivation, and cultural appropriateness (SAM = 90.6%). After thematic analysis, 94 dissertation proposals were identified, mainly of the visual language type (47.9%) and referential/informative function (68.1%). Most expert suggestions were accepted (83.0%), and only 17.0% were rejected. Conclusion: the validity and reliability of the booklet “Uncomplicating COVID-19 for people with cancer” were ratified by experts. These findings can contribute to the methodological optimization of the validation of educational technologies and innovation of health education strategies, subsidizing cancer care in times of crisis.

Background and purpose: The development of public policies must be guided by full knowledge of the health–disease process of the population. Aerobic exercises are recommended for rehabilitation in stroke patients, and have been shown to improve heart rate variability (HRV). Our aim was to compare the cardiac autonomic modulation of elderly stroke patients with that of healthy elderly people during and after an acute bout of aerobic exercise. Methods: A total of 60 elderly people participated in the study (30 in the control group, mean age of 67 ± 4 years; 30 in the stroke group, mean age of 69 ± 3 years). HRV was analyzed in rest—10 min of rest in supine position; exercise—the 30 min of peak exercise; and recovery—30 min in supine position post-exercise. Results: Taking rest and exercises together, for SDNN, RMSSD, pNN50, RRTri, and TINN, there was no difference between the stroke and control groups (p = 0.062; p = 0.601; p = 0.166; p = 0.224, and p = 0.059, respectively). The HF (ms2) was higher and the LF/HF ratio was lower for the stroke group than the control group (p < 0.001 and p = 0.007, respectively). The SD2 was lower for the stroke group than for the control group (p = 0.041). Conclusion: Stroke patients present reduced variability at rest, sympathetic predominance during exercise, and do not return to baseline after the 30 min of recovery, with similar responses found in the healthy elderly group.