Subnormal heart period variability in heart failure: effect of cardiac transplantation

Heart period variability and arterial baroreceptor-cardiac reflex function were studied in cardiac transplant patients to determine if correction of heart failure restores parasympathetic control mechanisms toward normal. Heart period variability (standard deviation [SD] of 120 consecutive RR or PP intervals) was measured at supine rest in 34 patients with congestive heart failure (23 patients receiving diuretics, digoxin or vasodilators and 11 patients weaned from all medications), 30 cardiac transplant patients (both innervated recipient and denervated donor atrial rates) and 16 age-matched healthy control subjects. Arterial baroreflex gain was evaluated with intravenous bolus injections of phenylephrine in 22 transplant patients. Mean heart period variability (+/- SEM) was significantly lower (p less than 0.05) in the heart failure groups (22 +/- 3 ms for medicated and 17 +/- 3 ms for nonmedicated) than in the transplant patients (41 +/- 5 ms) or control subjects (58 +/- 5 ms). Heart period variability of the transplant patients was less than that of the control patients (p less than 0.05). A stepwise regression model revealed that heart period variability was inversely related to systolic arterial pressure and directly related to time after transplantation (R2 = 0.39; p = 0.03) in the transplant patients. Baroreflex gain of normotensive transplant patients was normal (11.7 +/- 1.0 ms/mm Hg) and correlated directly with heart period variability (r = 0.62; p less than 0.001). These data suggest that subnormal levels of cardiac parasympathetic activity at rest associated with congestive heart failure can be restored progressively toward normal by correction of congestive heart failure after cardiac transplantation. Post-transplant hypertension opposes this correction of baseline parasympathetic activity.