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A Relationship Between Fluctuations in Heart Rate and The Duration of Subsequent Episodes of Atrial Fibrillation
Author(s) -
HNATKOVA KATERINA,
WAKTARE JOHAN EP,
SOPHER S MARK,
MURGATROYD FRANCIS D,
BAIYAN XIE,
CAMM A JOHN,
MALIK MAREK
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1998.tb01085.x
Subject(s) - medicine , atrial fibrillation , cardiology , duration (music) , heart rate , blood pressure , art , literature
A relationship between autonomic tone and the onset of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in some patients is recognised Episodes of PAF may vary enormously in duration, however, from a few beats to many hours. Whether autonomic tone influences the duration of ihe episodes has been less well investigated. From a database of Holter recording taken from patients with symptomatic PAF, we identified all episodes of at least 30 seconds duration which were preceded by noise free sinus rhythm. This study examined the heart rate prior to AF onset, the change in heart rate over the final minute of sinus rhythm and the time of AF onset, and compared the data from those episodes of AF of more than 5 minutes duration to the shorter ones. Heart rate was slower before long episodes of AF, but this was found to predominantly represent data from separate recordings. A highly significant rise in heart rate was detected prior to long AF episodes compared to shorter ones. Daytime AF episodes were slightly longer than nocturnal ones. The most important finding was that longer AF episodes were typified by a heart rate acceleration. This suggests that, regardless of underlying aetiology, and increase in sympathetic tone may be important in the sustenance of episodes of PAF.