Cardiac autonomic dysregulation in patients with acute hepatitis

Autonomic dysfunction is common in patients with chronic liver disease, but it is still unclear whether acute hepatitis coincides with alterations in autonomic functions.

We evaluated the heart rate variability (HRV) of 10 patients with acute hepatitis (6 males, 4 females; mean age, 44.0 y; range, 20-69 y). Frequency-domain analysis of short-term and stationary R-R intervals was performed on the first day of admission to detect low-frequency power (LF; 0.04-0.15 Hz), high-frequency power (HF, 0.15-0.40 Hz), the ratio of LF to HF (LF/HF), and LF in normalized units (LF%). The same measurement was repeated on the 7th day of admission.

We found that there was a significant increase of HF as well as variance of the R-R interval on the 7th day after admission (P < 0.05). There was a significant negative correlation between HF and the change of total bilirubin (P < 0.05).

The study demonstrates a change in cardiac vagal tone associated with acute hepatitis by analysis of HRV, and such alteration is less pronounced later during the clinical course of acute hepatitis.