Changes in heart rate variability during an eHealth behavior change intervention program in patients with...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Autonomic Nervous System Research
• Digital Health Interventions

Background:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is linked to lifestyle factors like physical inactivity, diet, and smoking.
• The autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a crucial role in the relationship between health behaviors and CVD.
• Understanding how ANS activity changes with behavioral interventions is key for CVD management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate changes in ECG-based autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity during an eHealth behavior intervention.
• To determine if improvements in health behaviors correlate with increased parasympathetic ANS activity.
• To analyze heart rate variability (HRV) as an index of ANS function in CVD patients undergoing intervention.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from the DoCHANGE-2 eHealth intervention study (NCT03178305) in CVD patients.
• Calculation of heart rate variability (RMSSD) from 40-second home-recorded ECGs at baseline, 3, and 6 months.
• Utilized linear mixed models and general linear models to analyze changes in HRV and health behaviors.

Main Results:

• A significant decrease in RMSSD was observed over the 6-month intervention period.
• Health behaviors showed significant improvement during the initial 3 months of the intervention.
• Higher BMI and older age were associated with lower RMSSD, but no consistent link was found between health behavior changes and HRV changes.

Conclusions:

• Changes in heart rate variability (HRV) during the eHealth intervention were not associated with improvements in health behaviors.
• The study highlights a potential dissociation between behavioral changes and ANS markers in CVD patients.
• Further research with larger, well-controlled studies is needed to validate these findings.