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Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments
Published on: August 8, 2019
[Circadian rhythms and cardiovascular diseases: clinical perspectives]
Benedetta Boari1, Raffaella Salmi, Massimo Gallerani
1Unità Operativa di Medicina Interna Ospedaliera.
Insights
Cardiovascular events, including myocardial ischemia and infarction, do not occur randomly but follow distinct temporal patterns. Understanding these biological rhythms and their impact on cardiovascular health can inform therapeutic strategies.
Area of Science:
- Chronobiology
- Biomedical Sciences
- Cardiovascular Physiology
Context:
- Biological rhythms are fundamental to living organisms, categorized as circadian, ultradian, and infradian.
- The cardiovascular system exhibits inherent oscillatory patterns and daily variations in function.
- Cardiovascular events display non-random temporal distributions throughout the day, week, and year.
Purpose:
- To review the temporal patterns of myocardial ischemia and infarction occurrence.
- To explore the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms and physiological rhythm variations.
- To discuss potential therapeutic applications based on chronobiology.
Summary:
- Chronobiology studies biological rhythms, which influence cardiovascular functions and the timing of cardiac events.
- Cardiovascular events like myocardial ischemia and infarction show specific temporal patterns linked to body rhythms.
- Investigating these temporal aspects can reveal triggering factors and guide chronotherapy for cardiovascular diseases.
Impact:
- Highlights the importance of biological timing in cardiovascular health and disease.
- Provides insights into the chronopathology of cardiovascular events.
- Suggests novel therapeutic strategies by aligning treatments with endogenous rhythms.
Abstract:
Chronobiology is a branch of biomedical sciences devoted to the study of biological rhythms. Biological rhythms exist at any level of living organisms and, according to their cycle length, may be divided into: a) circadian rhythms (period of approximately 24 hours), b) ultradian rhythms (period shorter than 24 hours), c) infradian rhythms (period longer than 24 hours). The cardiovascular system is organized according to an oscillatory pattern, and most cardiovascular functions exhibit circadian changes. Most evidence suggests that occurrence of cardiovascular events is not evenly distributed in time, but shows peculiar temporal patterns varying with time of the day, day of the week, and month of the year. These patterns coincide with the temporal variation in the (a) pathophysiological mechanisms that trigger cardiovascular events, and (b) physiological changes in the body rhythms. We will here briefly review the temporal aspects in occurrence of myocardial ischemia and infarction, as well as underlying triggering factors and possible applications in therapy.
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