title: Heart rate turbulence analysis in female patients with fibromyalgia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Fibromyalgia is characterized by diffuse musculoskeletal pain and discomfort. There are several reports regarding autonomic nervous system dysfunction in patients with fibromyalgia. Heart rate turbulence is expressed as ventriculophasic sinus arrhythmia and has been considered to reflect cardiac autonomic activity. Heart rate turbulence has been shown to be an independent and powerful predictor of sudden cardiac death in various cardiac abnormalities. The aim of this study is to determine whether heart rate turbulence is changed in female patients with fibromyalgia compared with healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-seven female patients (mean age, 40±11 years) with fibromyalgia, and 35 age- and sex-matched healthy female control subjects (mean age, 42±9 years) were included. Twenty-four hours of ambulatory electrocardiography recordings were collected for all subjects, and turbulence onset and turbulence slope values were automatically calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The baseline clinical characteristics of the two groups were similar. There were no significant differences in turbulence onset and turbulence slope measures between patients and control subjects (turbulence onset: -1.648±1.568% vs. -1.582±1.436%, p ϝ 0.853; turbulence slope: 12.933±5.693 ms/RR vs. 13.639±2.505 ms/RR, p ϝ 0.508). Although body mass index was negatively correlated with turbulence slope (r ϝ -0.258, p ϝ 0.046), no significant correlation was found between body mass index and turbulence onset (r ϝ 0.228, p ϝ 0.054).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate heart rate turbulence in patients with fibromyalgia. It appears that heart rate turbulence parameters reflecting cardiac autonomic activity are not changed in female patients with fibromyalgia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Huseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dursun
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ersel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Onrat
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Emine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ercan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Katip Celebi University, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Umit Secil
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Demirdal
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Alaettin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avsar
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Umit
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dundar
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Solak
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Toktas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001146:Arrhythmia, Sinus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors