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Heart rate variability in premature neonates pre‐ and postmethylxanthine administration
Author(s) -
KIBBLEWHITE DAVID,
SLEIGH JAMES
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
pediatric anesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.704
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1460-9592
pISSN - 1155-5645
DOI - 10.1046/j.1460-9592.1996.d01-10.x
Subject(s) - medicine , heart rate variability , autonomic function , heart rate , dosing , autonomic nervous system , analysis of variance , anesthesia , pediatrics , cardiology , blood pressure
Methylxanthines are used to treat or prevent respiratory failure (apnoea) in premature infants both perinatally and perioperatively. Heart rate variability (HRV) is being increasingly used to measure autonomic function. In this study various indices of HRV were compared pre‐ and postmethylxanthine dosing in 22 infants (aged 24–36 weeks). HRV significantly increased postdosing, particularly in the high frequency (HF) band ( P =0.001 by ANOVA). This increase was more pronounced in the sickest infants. This pattern of increased HRV and %HF is the same that occurs with normal maturation. This suggests that methylxanthine may stimulate and normalize autonomic function.