Chagas disease alters the relationship between heart rate variability and daily physical activity

Received 28 February 2008; accepted 1 March 2008. published online 01 July 2008.

Abstract

Regular exercise training is considered to be capable of beneficially modifying the autonomic balance in healthy subjects. We studied the association between vagal HRV indexes and the level of physical activity in Chagas disease patients and control subjects. Although in controls habitual physical activity was closely associated with vagal HRV indexes, no relationship was found between IPAQ scores and HRV indexes in a Chagas disease group, suggesting that Chagas dysautonomia disrupted this potentially beneficial association.

Keywords: Chagas cardiomyopathy, Lifestyle, Heart rate, Autonomic nervous system

a Laboratório de Avaliação e Pesquisa em Desempenho Cardiorrespiratório, Departamento de Fisioterapia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

b Centro Universitário Newton Paiva, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

c Cardiology Service, Hospital das Clínicas, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

d Post-Graduation in Infectology and Tropical Medicine, School of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

e Cardiologia, Ospedale San Paolo, Dipartimento di Medicina, Chirurgia e Odontoiatria, Università di Milano, Via A. De Rudini, 8, 20142, Milano, Italy

Corresponding author. Rua Campanha 98/101, Carmo, CEP 30310770, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

PII: S0167-5273(08)00490-7

doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2008.03.024

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