title: Heart rate turbulence in children--age and heart rate relationships.
abstract: Heart rate turbulence (HRT) is a chronotropic response of the sinus heart rhythm to ventricular premature beat (VPB). Children show decreasing heart rate together with the maturation of the autonomic nervous system. The aim of the research was to assess the relationship between HRT parameters, age, and heart rate and time domain heart rate variability (HRV) parameters in healthy children. Twenty-four-hour ECG Holter recording was performed on 398 healthy children. The mean RR interval preceding VPB, number of VPBs, and HRT parameters-turbulence onset (TO) and turbulence slope (TS)-were determined. We observed significant correlation among TS and mean RR and age. Children with prepubertal status have lower values of TS compared with those during puberty. According to given quartiles, upper for TO was > or =-0.8%, lower for TS was < or =4.56 ms/RR, 13 patients (3%) obtained abnormal both TO and TS. The correlations between HRT and HRV parameters were observed among the youngest children. Age and heart rate preceding VPB have no effect on HRT onset in children, whereas HRT slope is highly dependent on these variables. Our results support hypothesis that in older children HRT is dependent on autonomic tone and also determined by other intrinsic modulators.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Pediatrics, Medical University in Białystok, Children's Hospital, 15-274 Białystok, Poland. m.a.kowalewski@wp.pl
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kowalewski
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alifier
authors.forename: Dariusz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bochen
authors.forename: Mirosława
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Urban
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011627:Puberty; D013997:Time Factors; D018879:Ventricular Premature Complexes / Q000503:physiopathology*