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Cardiac autonomic function during sleep in psychogenic and organic erectile dysfunction
Author(s) -
Lavie Peretz,
Shlitner Arie,
Nave Rachel
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of sleep research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2869
pISSN - 0962-1105
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2869.1999.00137.x
Subject(s) - non rapid eye movement sleep , erectile dysfunction , psychogenic disease , heart rate variability , medicine , cardiology , sleep stages , anesthesia , sleep (system call) , slow wave sleep , balance (ability) , rapid eye movement sleep , heart rate , polysomnography , psychology , eye movement , electroencephalography , physical therapy , psychiatry , blood pressure , ophthalmology , apnea , computer science , operating system
Summary The present study investigated the sympathetic/parasympathetic balance during non‐rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in patients with psychogenic and organic erectile dysfunction. The cardiac autonomic balance was assessed from the power of the low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) spectral components of heart‐rate variability in 11 patients with psychogenic erectile dysfunction and 11 patients with organic erectile dysfunction as determined by monitoring sleep‐related erections. Spectral analysis of heart‐rate variability was calculated for at least four successive 4‐min epochs of electrocardiogram recordings during NREM sleep and for all available 4‐min epochs during REM sleep. Statistical analysis revealed that organic patients had a significantly higher LF/HF ratio ( P < 0.01) during both stages of sleep, which resulted from a significantly lower power in the HF component ( P < 0.004) and higher power in the LF component ( P < 0.01) in these patients, in both REM and NREM sleep stages. These results demonstrate that patients complaining of daytime sexual dysfunction and found by sleep‐related erection monitoring to suffer from organic erectile dysfunction, have altered cardiac autonomic balance during both stages of sleep.