title: The impact of menstrual cycle phase on cardiac autonomic regulation.
abstract: This study investigated menstrual cycle phase differences in heart rate (HR) and RR interval variability (RRV) in 49 healthy, premenopausal, eumenorrheic women (age 30.2+/-6.2 years). HR and RRV were computed from ambulatory 24-h electrocardiogram, collected for up to 6 days, with at least 1 day each during early to midfollicular and midluteal menstrual phases. Phase effects on HR and RRV were assessed using linear mixed effects models with a random intercept to account for the correlation of observations within each subject as well as intrasubject variation. During follicular phase monitoring, women had significantly lower average HR (-2.33 bpm), and higher standard deviation, the root mean squared successive difference, and high frequency (0.04-0.15 Hz) and low frequency (0.15-0.40 Hz) RRV than during the luteal phase. These results provide strong support for the influence of menstrual phase on cardiac autonomic regulation in premenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. pm491@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Paula S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: McKinley
authors.forename: Arlene R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: Iordan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Slavov
authors.forename: Yixin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Ivy S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Larry D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Jamner
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Sloan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005498:Follicular Phase / Q000502:physiology; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008183:Luteal Phase / Q000502:physiology; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult