title: Nonlinear analysis of heart rate variability in patients with eating disorders.
abstract: Patients with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa often have signs of autonomic dysfunction potentially deleterious to the heart. The aim of this study was to ascertain the nonlinear properties of heart rate variability in patients with eating disorders. A group of 33 women with eating disorders (14 anorexia, 19 bulimia) and 19 healthy controls were included in the study. Conventional time- and frequency-domain heart rate variability measurements, along with nonlinear heart rate variability measurements including the short-term fractal scaling exponent alpha and approximate entropy (ApEn) were calculated. Anorexia nervosa patients exhibited decreased values of alpha, while bulimia nervosa patients had decreased values of ApEn. Low-frequency heart rate variability was decreased in patients with anorexia. In conclusion, these results are compatible with the view that a more severe alteration of cardiac autonomic function is present in anorexia than in bulimia.
authors.affiliation: Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia (FLENI), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Vigo
authors.forename: Mariana N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dörpinghaus
authors.forename: Hylke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Weidema
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Cardinali
authors.forename: Leonardo Nicola
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Siri
authors.forename: Bernardo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rovira
authors.forename: Rodolfo D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Fahrer
authors.forename: Martín
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nogués
authors.forename: Ramón C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Leiguarda
authors.forename: Salvador M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Guinjoan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics