Declining Trends of Heart Rate Variability According to Aging in Healthy Asian Adults

Abstract

Heart rate variability (HRV) indices correlate with aging and are related to the autonomic nervous system. However, the trend of HRV with age has not been explored for the Asian population. Therefore, we proposed a linear regression model of HRV indices that decreased with aging in healthy Asian adults. HRV parameters [High frequency (HF), Low frequency (LF), Very low frequency (VLF), Total power (TP), HRV triangular index (HRV-index), Standard deviation of the normal-to-normal interval (SDNN), and Proportion of normal-to-normal intervals greater than 50 ms (pNN50)] were measured in a total of 300 healthy participants (150 men and 150 women) aged 19–69 years stratified into five age groups: 19–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, and 60–69 years comprising 60 people each in Seoul, South Korea. A simple regression analysis was performed to reveal the linear declining trend of HRV indices with age. Independent t-tests were conducted to investigate the gender differences in HRV values depending on each age group. The values of all HRV indices showed a decreasing trend with age in healthy Korean adults, as observed in the Western population (P < 0.001 for all indices); HF (Y = −0.039x + 6.833, R2 = 0.287), LF (Y = −0.047x + 7.197, R2 = 0.414), VLF (Y = −0.025x + 6.861, R2 = 0.177), TP (Y = −0.034x + 8.082, R2 = 0.352), HRV-index (Y = −0.125x + 15.628, R2 = 0.298), SDNN (Y = −0.502x + 53.907, R2 = 0.343), and pNN50 (Y = −0.650x + 53.852, R2 = 0.345) all decreased with age. There was no significant gender difference in any HRV parameter. A linear regression model of various HRV indices has been presented considering the age of healthy Asians, which may be useful to prevent diseases related to the autonomic nervous system by estimating or tracking autonomic functional degeneration in the Asian population.

Exploring the Association between Sleep Quality and Heart Rate Variability among Female Nurses

“…In addition, the results of the present study demonstrated that age and nursing seniority were significantly and negatively correlated with daytime dysfunction, TP and HF. This finding confirmed that of several studies that indicated that age and HRV correlated negatively [ 41 , 42 ]. The literature reveals that several factors influence HRV [ 41 ].…”

“…This finding confirmed that of several studies that indicated that age and HRV correlated negatively [ 41 , 42 ]. The literature reveals that several factors influence HRV [ 41 ]. One study pointed out that HRV analysis is affected by many factors, including caffeine, age, disease, BMI, day and night festivals, heart rate, acute psychological stress, etc.…”

“…This finding was similar with a study by Ito et al [ 40 ] that examined a staff of ten nurses with an average age of 31.48 ± 7.41 years and found that there was no significant difference in the HRV-related index between night shift and day shift. Another study revealed that when younger workers have more shift work, the variability of their heart rhythm is still better than that of the older ones [ 41 ]. The reasons for this finding can be explained by the fact that increases in sympathetic activity and reductions in parasympathetic tone have been reported among night workers relative to those working days, or on days off relative to night work [ 6 ].…”

Distinct components of cardiovascular health are linked with age-related differences in cognitive abilities

“…The convergence of low and high frequencies of resting heart rate variability onto latent vascular factor 3 does not necessarily rule out frequency-specific effects on cognition, or frequency-specific effects of task-based heart rate variability modulation/reactivity (Laborde et al, 2018; Lui et al, 2022). Latent vascular factor 3 associated negatively with age, consistent with previous studies on heart rate variability (Choi et al, 2020).…”

Preoperative heart rate variability analysis is as a potential simple and easy measure for predicting perioperative delirium in esophageal surgery

“…The low HF power of delirium patients may be due to their tendency to be older than patients who do not experience delirium. Aged people showed lower HF power [ 22 , 23 ]. Due to the small sample size of this study, it was not possible to analyze the effects of age.…”