Power spectral analysis of heart rate in elderly hypertensive subjects with or without silent coronary disease.
Much evidence indicates an involvement of the sympathetic nervous system in the genesis of silent myocardial ischemia. The authors assessed autonomic system activity by power spectrum analysis of heart rate variability in 21 elderly hypertensive men with and without angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease and compared the results with those from an age-matched control group. In the analysis an autoregressive algorithm was used to determine the power spectrum from an electrocardiographic recording of 512 consecutive RR intervals. The autonomic nervous system induces two distinct sinusoids: a low-frequency signal attributable to sympathetic activity and a high-frequency vagal response. In the hypertensive patients with coronary disease the authors also evaluated sympathetic activation after double-blind, placebo-controlled administration of metoprolol (100 mg/day), followed by amlodipine (10 mg/day), quinapril (20 mg/day), and amlodipine (5 mg/day) plus quinapril (10 mg/day).
Institute of Geriatrics, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy.
G
G
Piccirillo
F L
FL
Fimognari
E
E
Santagada
M R
MR
Munizzi
E
E
Viola
G
G
Monteforte
C
C
Bucca
M
M
Durante
C
C
Di Gioacchino
S
S
Tarantini
A
A
Lo Verde
M
M
Cacciafesta
V
V
Marigliano
D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D017311:Amlodipine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007546:Isoquinolines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008790:Metoprolol / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000077583:Quinapril; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D044005:Tetrahydroisoquinolines
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D007546:Isoquinolines; D044005:Tetrahydroisoquinolines; D017311:Amlodipine; D008790:Metoprolol; D000077583:Quinapril