title: Heart rate acceleration runs and deceleration runs in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to explore the patterns of heart rate acceleration runs and deceleration runs in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and to investigate the influence of apnea events on this pattern.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 6-h electrocardiography results of patients who were referred for overnight polysomnography were retrospectively analyzed. The frequencies of heart rate acceleration runs and deceleration runs of different lengths were calculated for each patient and compared among patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome of varying degrees of severity, between patients with obstructive sleep apnea on and off continuous positive airway pressure, and between two matched groups of patients with idiopathic central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 231 patients were enrolled. Patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea exhibited significantly increased frequencies of long acceleration and deceleration runs after multivariate adjustment, while no significant differences were observed in the frequencies of short runs. Thirty-nine obstructive sleep apnea patients who were treated with continuous positive airway pressure showed a significant decrease in the frequency of long deceleration runs and a decreasing trend in the frequency of long acceleration runs. Patients with idiopathic pure central sleep apnea exhibited no significant changes in the frequencies of acceleration and deceleration runs after they were placed on continuous positive airway pressure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The distributions of heart rate acceleration and deceleration runs are related to the severity of obstructive sleep apnea. Long runs are more closely related to obstructive respiratory events, while short runs do not appear to be related to these events.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, 100034, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Advanced Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking University First Hospital, 8#, Xi Shiku Street, Beijing, Xicheng District, 10034, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking University First Hospital, 8#, Xi Shiku Street, Beijing, Xicheng District, 10034, China.
authors.forename: Guangfa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Advanced Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.|College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking University First Hospital, 8#, Xi Shiku Street, Beijing, Xicheng District, 10034, China. majjmail@163.com.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Advanced Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.|College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
authors.forename: Jue
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D045422:Continuous Positive Airway Pressure; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D020182:Sleep Apnea, Central / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Acceleration runs; Autonomic nervous system; Deceleration runs; Heart rate asymmetry; Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome