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Respiratory and cardiovascular modulations in patients with spinal cord injury
Author(s) -
Aslan Sevda,
Ovechkin Alexander
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.1056.2
Subject(s) - medicine , respiratory system , cardiology , spinal cord injury , orthostatic vital signs , heart rate , respiration , heart rate variability , autonomic nervous system , anesthesia , blood pressure , physical medicine and rehabilitation , spinal cord , anatomy , psychiatry
Evaluation of autonomic cardiovascular deficits is clinically important to investigate the extent of impairment after spinal cord injury (SCI), and is based on recordings of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) in response to various conditions including orthostatic stress. Spectral power analyses of BP and HR oscillations during these tests can be used to evaluate sympathetic (0.04‐0.15Hz) and parasympathetic (0.15‐0.4Hz) regulations of cardiovascular function. These tests don't include the monitoring of respiration with the assumption that amplitude and frequency of these oscillations are regular, and located within the parasympathetic frequency range. However, respiratory insufficiency is common in SCI individuals due to paralysis, muscle weakness and/or spastic contractions of the muscles involved in respiration. We hypothesized that oscillatory respiratory patterns observed in SCI patients have a different autonomic effects compared to those in non‐injured. The aim was to investigate in what extent respiratory oscillatory patterns can affect autonomic cardiovascular responses in individuals with different neurological levels and severity of SCI. BP, HR and respiratory kinematics were recorded continuously at rest and in response to orthostatic stress in SCI and non‐injured subjects. SCI individuals demonstrated irregular breathing patterns that resulted in two main peak frequencies located both below and above 0.15 Hz. Magnitude of cross correlation between respiratory and both HR and BP significantly increased in frequencies below 0.15Hz and decreased above 0.15 Hz compared to non‐injured group. These results indicate that respiratory related oscillations in BP and HR can be augmented due to both pulmonary and autonomic nervous system dysfunction after SCI.