Sympathovagal balance is major determinant of short-term blood pressure variability in healthy subjects

Abstract

Short-term blood pressure variability (BPV) has been suggested to provide important information about cardiovascular regulation. However, the background of BPV, its determinants, and physiological correlates have remained obscure. The aim of this study was to characterize physiological correlates of BPV and to investigate associations between BPV and neural and hormonal regulatory systems at rest in healthy subjects. We studied 117 healthy, normal-weight, nonsmoking male and female subjects aged 23–77 yr. Spectral analysis of BPV and heart rate variability (HRV) was performed from 5-min blood pressure (Finapres) and electrocardiogram recordings during controlled breathing. Baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) was measured using the phenylephrine method. In addition, plasma concentrations of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and arginine vasopressin and plasma renin activity were measured. We found that the ratio between the low- and high-frequency components of HRV, an index of cardiac sympathovagal balance, correlated positively with total power and very low- and low-frequency components of systolic and diastolic BPV and inversely with high-frequency components of systolic and diastolic BPV. BRS, predominantly a measure of cardiac vagal regulation, correlated inversely with BPV. Furthermore, age, gender, body mass index, and systolic blood pressure contributed to BPV. Vasoactive hormones were not significant correlates of BPV. We conclude that sympathovagal balance of cardiovascular regulation is the major determinant of BPV. Other factors associated with BPV are age, gender, body mass index, blood pressure, and BRS.

Autonomic cardiovascular regulation in subjects with acute mountain sickness

“…BP variability, and more specifically LF SBP , is influenced by a multitude of physiological factors (17), which in the short-term include excitatory vasoconstrictive neural mechanisms, modulatory effects of baroreflex, and local effects of the nitric oxide system (16,24,27,34). However, despite this composite origin, LF SBP is commonly considered a marker of overall sympathetic influence to the vascular system (23).…”

Asymmetric features of short-term blood pressure variability

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Various physiological oscillations (for example, respiration, Mayer waves) and cardiovascular reflexes (for example, arterial and cardiopulmonary baroreflexes) are responsible for HRV and BPV. [1][2][3][4][6][7][8][9] A number of mathematical approaches like the time-domain analysis, spectral analysis, graphic or nonlinear methods have been applied in the analysis of HRV and BPV.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Various physiological oscillations (for example, respiration, Mayer waves) and cardiovascular reflexes (for example, arterial and cardiopulmonary baroreflexes) are responsible for HRV and BPV. [1][2][3][4][6][7][8][9] A number of mathematical approaches like the time-domain analysis, spectral analysis, graphic or nonlinear methods have been applied in the analysis of HRV and BPV. [1][2][3][4][5][6][9][10][11][12][13] Even though heart rate and blood pressure are different cardiovascular signals, very often the same techniques are used for the quantification of both HRV and BPV.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][9][10][11][12][13] Even though heart rate and blood pressure are different cardiovascular signals, very often the same techniques are used for the quantification of both HRV and BPV. 1,[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]13 On the other hand, descriptors of baroreflex function like baroreflex sensitivity and baroreflex delay (the delay of sinus node response to a change in blood pressure) reflect the blood pressure influence on heart rate more directly. 3,9,14 Most of the methods applied to the analysis of HRV and BPV look at the changes of the duration of cardiac cycle of sinus origin (RR) intervals or blood pressure, but do not analyze their direction, that is, whether they represent increases or decreases of heart rate or blood pressure, respectively.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][6][7][8][9] A number of mathematical approaches like the time-domain analysis, spectral analysis, graphic or nonlinear methods have been applied in the analysis of HRV and BPV. [1][2][3][4][5][6][9][10][11][12][13] Even though heart rate and blood pressure are different cardiovascular signals, very often the same techniques are used for the quantification of both HRV and BPV. 1,[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]13 On the other hand, descriptors of baroreflex function like baroreflex sensitivity and baroreflex delay (the delay of sinus node response to a change in blood pressure) reflect the blood pressure influence on heart rate more directly.…”