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Measuring Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System ANS Activity in Toddlers - Resting and Developmental Challenges
Published on: February 25, 2016
Early determinants of vagal activity at preschool age - With potential dependence on sex
Britta Kühne1, Bernd Genser2, Freia De Bock3
1Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicine, University Medicine Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
Insights
Early life factors like breastfeeding and physical activity (PA) significantly impact children's autonomic nervous function, measured by heart rate recovery (HRR). These effects, particularly on HRR, may be sex-dependent and observable in preschool children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Autonomic Nervous System Function
- Child Development
Background:
- Autonomic nervous system (ANS) function in children is linked to prevalent health issues.
- ANS function may serve as an early indicator of childhood ill health.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate early-life exposures and physical activity (PA) as determinants of autonomic function.
- Assess autonomic function at preschool age using heart rate recovery (HRR).
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 1052 preschool children (mean age 59.4 months) in Germany.
- Repeated vagal tone measurements via heart rate recovery (HRR) after submaximal exercise.
- Multilevel regression analysis of HRR associations with pregnancy smoking, breastfeeding, and objectively measured PA, adjusted for confounders.
Main Results:
- Positive associations found between HRR and breastfeeding duration (+4.2 BPM for 6 vs 0 months) and PA (+1.0 BPM per 10 min/day).
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy showed no significant association with HRR in the total sample.
- Interactions revealed sex-dependent associations for smoking and breastfeeding with HRR, primarily significant in girls.
Conclusions:
- Early pre- and postnatal exposures, including PA, have lasting effects on children's autonomic function.
- These effects are measurable at preschool age and may be sex-dependent.
- Promoting breastfeeding and PA could positively influence children's autonomic nervous system development.
Background:
In children, autonomic nervous function is related to various highly prevalent health problems and might therefore represent an early indicator of ill health.
Aims:
We aimed to investigate the role of early-life exposures and physical activity (PA) as potential determinants of autonomic function at preschool age.
Study Design And Subjects:
We used an existing longitudinal data set of repeated vagal tone measurements (assessed via heart rate recovery (HRR)) and retrospectively assessed early-life exposures in 1052 children (mean age: 59.4months, 47.5% girls) from 52 preschools in Germany recruited from 2008 to 2010.
Outcome Measures:
HRR 1min after submaximal exercise served as primary outcome. Through multilevel linear regression analysis adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic factors, we assessed the association between repeatedly measured HRR and pregnancy smoking status, breastfeeding and objectively measured PA.
Results:
Besides significant regression coefficients for previously described correlates of HRR (sex, age), we could show positive associations of HRR with breastfeeding (six versus zero months: +4.2 beats per minute (BPM), p=0.004) and PA (+1.0BPM for 10min increase of moderate-to-vigorous PA/day, p<0.001). Smoking before and during pregnancy showed no significant association with HRR in the total sample. However, we found interactions between sex and smoking before and during pregnancy as well as between sex and breastfeeding, suggesting significant associations with HRR only in girls.
Conclusions:
Besides PA, early pre- and postnatal exposures seem to have long-lasting effects on children's autonomic function, still recordable at preschool age. Our data suggest that these effects might be sex-dependent.
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