Ann Neurol Surg | Volume 1, Issue 1 | Research Article | Open Access
Dorji Harnod1 and Tomor Harnod
1 Taipei Medical University, Taiwan 2 Department of Neurosurgery, Hualien Tzu Chi General Hospital, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan
*Correspondance to: Tomor Harnod
Fulltext PDFBackground: We used frequency-domain analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) to evaluate cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic regulation in patients with adult-onset epilepsy. Methods: Nineteen male and 16 female patients, having epilepsy with unknown etiology and ever experiencing generalized onset seizure (age range: 18-67 years), were enrolled retrospectively. Data of daytime electrocardiograms for 5 min was recorded in each patient and was quantified into the heart rate variables: High frequency power (0.15 Hz to 0.45 Hz, HF, reflect parasympathetic regulation), low frequency power (0.04 Hz to 0.15 Hz, LF, contributed by mixed sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions), and LF% (LF/(HF + LF) in normalized units, mirrors sympathetic regulation). The significance was analyzed using paired t-tests. Pearson correlation analysis and stepwise regression were applied for further analysis. Results: In the patients with epilepsy, the rate of decline in HF was significantly correlated with the onset age of epilepsy (r=-0.438, p=0.009), but not with patient age, epilepsy duration, seizure frequency and number of anti-epileptic drug. We categorized the patients into three groups according to their onset age of epilepsy: early onset (18-24 years), middle onset (25-39 years) and late onset (40-66 years) groups. HF was significantly lower in the late onset group. Conclusions: Cardiac parasympathetic regulation is decreased in adulthood patients with epilepsy, which is correlated with their onset age of epilepsy
Autonomic nervous system; Epilepsy; Heart rate variability
Harnod D, Harnod T. Decreased Cardiac Parasympathetic Regulation in Late-Onset Adulthood Epilepsy. Ann Neurol Surg. 2017; 1(1): 1001..