title: Attenuated or absent HRV response to postural change in subjects with primary insomnia.
abstract: Previous studies have compared rest heart rate variability (HRV) between insomniacs and good sleepers, but the results have not been consistent. The altered HRV behavior in response to postural change was considered useful as another sensitive measure for evaluating the autonomic nervous function, however, to our knowledge, no study was found using HRV response to postural change in primary insomnia. Our study aimed to examine HRV response to postural change maneuver (PCM) in both primary insomniacs and controls between 22 and 39 years of age to gain insights into the characteristics of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) function in primary insomnia subjects. HRV was recorded for 5 min at seated rest, and then, the subjects quickly stood up from a seated position in up to 3s and remained standing for 15 min. HRV was recorded at the following times: seated rest and 0-5 min, 5-10 min and 10-15 min in the standing position. In primary insomnia subjects, attenuated or absent HRV response to postural change was identified, the increase in LF/HF ratio and the decrease in HF and SD1 from seated to standing were much slower than in the normal controls. In conclusion, this study provided evidence of the possible bi-directional relationship between insomnia and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function, which will move us closer to developing a new sensitive method for measuring autonomic impairment and early sympathetic damage in primary insomnia subjects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangdong Prov 510515, China. Electronic address: 729271960@qq.com.
authors.forename: Xiao-ling
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangdong Prov 510515, China.
authors.forename: Zheng-gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangdong Prov 510515, China.
authors.forename: Cui-ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangdong Prov 510515, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangdong Prov 510515, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangdong Prov 510515, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangdong Prov 510515, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangdong Prov 510515, China. Electronic address: 1971994747@qq.com.
authors.forename: Zhong-ju
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D012146:Rest; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Heart rate variability; Postural change; Primary insomnia