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Sex and age differences in cardiac autonomic nervous regulation in response to recumbent positions
Author(s) -
Sasaki Konosuke,
Bao Sarina,
Sato Haruka,
Saiki Yoshikatsu,
Maruyama Ryoko
Publication year - 2017
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.31.1_supplement.862.1
Subject(s) - supine position , medicine , heart rate , autonomic nervous system , heart rate variability , cardiology , young adult , body position , blood pressure , physical medicine and rehabilitation
Not much research has been conducted to determine sex and age differences in autonomic nervous activity during different positions, namely the supine, left recumbent, and right recumbent positions. Our aim was to evaluate whether the left and right recumbent positions affect heart rate variability (HRV) differently than the supine position dose in young and old adults of both sexes. Twenty‐nine young male (22.5 ± 0.5 years), 29 young female (23.1 ± 0.7 years), 18 elderly male (76.1 ± 1.1 years), and 27 elderly female (72.6 ± 1.0 years) volunteers participated in this study. After lying in the supine position, the participants maintained each recumbent position in random order for 10 min. We recorded electrocardiographic data throughout this experiment to evaluate HRV. Heart rate during the left recumbent position was the lowest among the three positions regardless of age or sex. No significant differences were observed for low‐frequency (LF) HRV, high‐frequency (HF) HRV, or their ratio (LF/HF) in young adults of both sexes and elderly women when the position was changed from supine to recumbent. However, in elderly men, the LF/HF ratio during the right recumbent position was significantly lower than that during the supine position. While in supine position, elderly men showed high LF/HF ratios when compared to the other groups. These results suggest that the right recumbent position attenuates cardiac sympathetic nerve activity, which is expressed as the LF/HF ratio, in elderly male adults. Therefore, reduction in heart rate during the left recumbent position may not be associated with autonomic nervous activity. Support or Funding Information This work was supported in part by a Grant‐in‐Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.