title: A comparison of heart rate variability in women at the third trimester of pregnancy and during low-risk labour.
abstract: Heart rate variability (HRV) has been recognised as a non-invasive method for assessing cardiac autonomic regulation. Aiming to characterize HRV changes at labour in women, we studied 10 minute ECG recordings from young mothers (n=30) at the third trimester of pregnancy (P) or during augmentation of labour (L) (n=30). Data of the L group were collected when no-contractions (L-NC) or the contractile activity (L-C) was manifested. Accordingly, the inter-beat interval (IBI) time series were processed to estimate relevant parameters of HRV such as the mean IBI (IBI¯), the mean heart rate HR¯, the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) in IBIs, the natural logarithm of high-frequency component (LnHF), the short-term scaling parameters from detrended fluctuation and magnitude and sign analyses such as (α1, α1(MAG), α1(SIGN)), and the sample entropy (SampEn). We found statistical differences (p<0.05) for RMSSD among P and L-NC/L-C groups (25 ± 13 vs. 36 ± 14/34 ± 16 ms) and for LnHF between P and L-NC (5.37 ± 1.15 vs. 6.05 ± 0.86 ms(2)). Likewise, we identified statistical differences (p<0.05) for α1(SIGN) among P and L-NC/L-C groups (0.19 ± 0.20 vs. 0.32 ± 0.17/0.39 ± 0.13). By contrast, L-NC and L-C groups showed statistical differences (p<0.05) in α1(MAG) (0.67 ± 0.12 vs. 0.79 ± 0.12), and SampEn (1.62 ± 0.26 vs. 1.20 ± 0.44). These results suggest that during labour, despite preserving a concomitant non-linear influence, the maternal short-term cardiac autonomic regulation becomes weakly anticorrelated (as indicated by α1(SIGN)); furthermore, an increased vagally mediated activity is observed (as indicated by RMSSD and LnHF), which may reflect a cholinergic pathway activation owing to the use of oxytocin or the anti-inflammatory cholinergic response triggered during labour.
authors.affiliation: Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), Campus Iztapalapa, Basic Sciences and Engineering Division, Mexico City 09340, Mexico.
authors.forename: José Javier
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Reyes-Lagos
authors.affiliation: Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), Campus Iztapalapa, Basic Sciences and Engineering Division, Mexico City 09340, Mexico.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Echeverría-Arjonilla
authors.affiliation: Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), Campus Iztapalapa, Basic Sciences and Engineering Division, Mexico City 09340, Mexico.
authors.forename: Miguel Ángel
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Peña-Castillo
authors.affiliation: Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), Campus Iztapalapa, Basic Sciences and Engineering Division, Mexico City 09340, Mexico.
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: García-González
authors.affiliation: Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), Campus Iztapalapa, Basic Sciences and Engineering Division, Mexico City 09340, Mexico.
authors.forename: María Del Rocío
authors.initials: Mdel R
authors.lastname: Ortiz-Pedroza
authors.affiliation: UAM, Campus Lerma, Biological and Health Sciences Division, Lerma 52000, Mexico; University of Leiden, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Health, Medical and Neuropsychology Unit, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: g.pacheco@correo.ler.uam.mx.
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pacheco-López
authors.affiliation: Maternal and Childhood Research Center (CIMIGen), 09890 Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vargas-García
authors.affiliation: Maternal and Childhood Research Center (CIMIGen), 09890 Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Camal-Ugarte
authors.affiliation: UAM, Campus Iztapalapa, Biological and Health Sciences Division, 09340 Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: González-Camarena
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007743:Labor, Obstetric / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anti-inflammatory cholinergic pathway; Autonomic activity; Detrended fluctuation analysis; Heart rate variability; Labour; Oxytocin; Pregnancy