Immediate heart rate responses to head-up tilt in healthy human subjects: response characteristics and variability

Eight healthy adult males underwent three 70* head-up tilts within a nine day period. Immediate heart rate responses were monitored for 30 beats following completion of change to upright posture. The pooled data demonstrates a clearly demarcated bimodal heart rate response with a rise in heart rate by the 20th beat and a subsequent fall by the 30th beat. There is a secondary rise in heart rate with continuation of the tilted position. The bimodal response is at variance with several earlier reports. There is a large variability in the immediate heart rate responses, both between subjects of a homogeneous group and within subjects with repeated measurements. The large variability precludes the use of the immediate heart rate responses to passive tilting in autonomic testing.