Characteristics of heart rate variability in war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder after myocardial infarction.
OBJECTIVE
The goal of the study was to evaluate differences in heart rate variability (HRV) among post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients, depending on their participation in the Croatian war and on established diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


METHODS
The study included 34 male war veterans with diagnosed PTSD who had suffered a first MI and 34 age-matched post-MI patients without PTSD. Cardiac autonomic balance was evaluated through HRV analysis.


RESULTS
There were no differences in the mean R-R interval or overall HRV between the analyzed groups. Post-MI patients with PTSD had lower values for the square root of the mean of squared successive differences in R-R intervals (p = 0.02), the percentage of R-R intervals that were > or =50 milliseconds different from the previous interval (p = 0.03), and the high-frequency component (p = 0.03) but had higher values for the low-frequency component (p = 0.01) and the low-frequency/high-frequency ratio (p = 0.02), compared with post-MI patients without PTSD.


CONCLUSIONS
Post-MI patients with PTSD have higher sympathetic and lower parasympathetic heart rate modulation activity, compared with patients with MI and no PTSD.
Lakusic
Nenad
N
Department of Cardiology, Hospital for Medical Rehabilitation, Krapinske Toplice, HR-49217, Croatia.
Fuckar
Krunoslav
K
Mahovic
Darija
D
Cerovec
Dusko
D
Majsec
Marcel
M
Stancin
Nevenka
N
D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014728:Veterans; D014857:Warfare