title: Heart rate variations during sleep in preadolescents.
abstract: Heart rate variations during sleep have been documented for infant and adult populations, but not for children and adolescents. To provide normative data for the preadolescent age group, this investigation used a combination of time-domain measures and nonlinear procedures (Poincare plots) to describe heart rate variations during two consecutive nights of undisturbed baseline sleep in 14 normal 8- to 10-year-old males. Heart rate variables, based on all-night analyses of computer-determined beat-to-beat (RR) intervals, were related to sleep stage and sleep cycle measures within and across nights. Time-domain summary statistics revealed a tendency for higher mean heart rates in rapid eye movement (REM) compared to slow-wave (SW) and stage 2 sleep, but the differences were not significant. Heart rate variability, as measured by average RR interval standard deviation, was greatest in stage 2 and least in SW sleep, but it did not vary significantly across sleep stages. Analyses of heart rate variables across the initial four sleep cycles showed a significant heart rate decrease (quadratic trend) and a significant increase (linear trend) for heart rate variability. All effects replicated across nights. Poincare plots revealed wide-ranging individual differences, generally characterized by greater dispersion at longer RR intervals and a remarkable night-to-night consistency in whole-night as well as stage-specific patterns. The sleep-stage plots uniformly indicated reduced overall range and variability in SW relative to REM and stage 2 and a general equivalence of stage 2 and REM patterns. The results indicate several features of sleep-related heart rate variations in preadolescents that differ from those in adults. The differences can be attributed to developmental variations in autonomic cardiac control and are consistent with increased parasympathetic influences reported to occur at this time.
authors.affiliation: University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Pivik
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Busby
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nevins
mesh_terms: D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012894:Sleep Stages; D012895:Sleep, REM