title: Effect of physical activity on heart rate variability and carotid intima-media thickness in older people.
abstract: We investigated the effect of physical activity on heart rate variability (HRV) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in elderly subjects and the relationship between HRV and IMT. Thirty-two elderly sedentary subjects and 32 age-matched endurance athletes underwent ultrasonography of the carotid wall for measuring IMT, and 24-h ECG monitoring for measuring HRV. Elderly athletes had evidence of increased vagal activity in the time (SDANN, rMSSD, and pNN50; p < 0.01) and frequency domain (HF and LF/HF ratio, p < 0.01) with respect to sedentary subjects. Moreover, athletes showed lower IMT than control subjects (p < 0.01). In the whole population SDNN was inversely related to IMT, respectively (r = -0.60 and r = -0.58, p < 0.0001), while LF/HF ratio related positively to IMT. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that in aging HRV is negatively associated with IMT, a putative index of atherosclerosis, confirming cardiac autonomic neuropathy as part of the pathophysiological pathway for atherosclerosis. It confirms that the regular physical activity represents a valuable strategy to counter age-related impairments of cardiac autonomic activity and artery structural changes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. fabio.galetta@med.unipi.it
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Galetta
authors.forename: Ferdinando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Franzoni
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tocchini
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Camici
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Milanesi
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Belatti
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Speziale
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gaudio
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carpi
authors.forename: Gino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Santoro
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D056352:Athletes; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014463:Ultrasonography