Age and Sex Differences in Heart Rate Variability and Vagal Specific Patterns – Baependi Heart Study

Glaucylara Reis Geovanini; Enio Rodrigues Vasques; Rafael de Oliveira Alvim; José Geraldo Mill; Rodrigo Varejão Andreão; Bruna Kim Vasques; Alexandre Costa Pereira; Jose Eduardo Krieger

doi:10.5334/gh.873

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of the healthy sample according to sex and race.

	All ‘Healthy’ sample (n = 543)	Female (n = 318)	Male(n = 225)	P-value	white(n = 402)	non-white (n = 141)	P-value
Age, y	40 ± 14	38 ± 13	43 ± 15	< 0.001	41 ± 15	37 ± 12	0.004
Male, %	41	–	–	–	42	40	0.615
Race, %
White	74	73	75	0.908	–	–	–
Black	6	6	5
Other	20	21	20
Smoking, %
Never	83	89	75	< 0.001	81	89	0.040
Former	17	11	25	< 0.001	19	11	0.040
Current	0	0	0	0	0
Mean 24h-Systolic BP, mmHg	116 ± 9	114 ± 9	120 ± 9	< 0.001	117 ± 9	116 ± 9	0.585
Mean 24h-Diastolic BP, mmHg	73 ± 7	71 ± 7	75 ± 8	< 0.001	73 ± 8	72 ± 6	0.625
BMI, kg/m²	24 ± 3	24 ± 3	24 ± 3	0.190	24 ± 3	24 ± 3	0.790
Waist circumf, cm	86 ± 10	86 ± 11	87 ± 8	0.190	86 ± 10	86 ± 9	0.484
Hip circumf, cm	96 ± 10	97 ± 12	95 ± 6	0.027	96 ± 11	98 ± 7	0.034
Neck circumf, cm	34 ± 3	33 ± 2	37 ± 3	< 0.001	35 ± 3	34 ± 3	0.447
Total cholesterol, mg/dL	195 ± 43	195 ± 41	196 ± 44	0.924	195 ± 41	196 ± 45	0.850
LDL, mg/dL	123 ± 37	120 ± 36	126 ± 38	0.103	123 ± 86	121 ± 40	0.645
HDL, mg/dL	49 ± 12	52 ± 12	44 ± 9	< 0.001	48 ± 12	51 ± 12	0.008
Triglicerydes, mg/dL	119 ± 60	116 ± 54	124 ± 68	0.157	121 ± 61	116 ± 58	0.400
Glicose, mg/dL	87 ± 10	86 ± 10	87 ± 10	0.009	87 ± 10	87 ± 9	0.917
HbA1c,%	5.35 ± 0.50	5.30 ± 0.50	5.40 ± 0.50	0.060	5.40 ± 0.50	5.20 ± 0.50	0.004
Creatinine, mg/dL	0.84 ± 0.17	0.80 ± 0.15	0.90 ± 0.15	< 0.001	0.83 ± 0.16	0.84 ± 0.17	0.344

[i] Data are shown as mean ± SD for continuous and percentages for categorical variables. P-value by independent t-test for continuous and by chi-square for categorical variables. BP = blood pressure; BMI = body mass index, chol = cholesterol; LDL = low-density lipoprotein; HDL = high-density lipoprotein; HbA1c = glycated hemoglobin. See Appendix Figure A1 for detailed information about characterization of the ‘Healthy’ sample.

Table 2

HRV Measurements of the Restricted Analytical Sample (those designated as ‘Healthy’), According to Age- and Sex-Related Distribution by Percentiles.

HRV(n = 543)	n	Sex	Age	Percentile						Mean sex-difference(Male – Female)	P-value for sex-related difference
			Years	5^th	25^th	50^th	75^th	95^th	Mean ± se
SDNN, ms	50	Male	18–30	116	151	177	226	280	187 ± 6	28 ± 4	< 0.001
	54		30–39	114	134	159	190	240	165 ± 6
	43		40–49	98	128	140	188	218	155 ± 7
	43		50–59	85	122	149	180	218	152 ± 7
	35		≥ 60	60	116	136	152	276	140 ± 7
	87	Female	18–30	94	123	143	157	179	140 ± 3
	100		30–39	89	120	137	158	197	139 ± 3
	67		40–49	74	112	126	145	184	128 ± 4
	49		50–59	77	121	136	155	186	136 ± 4
	15		≥ 60	79	90	110	128	179	115 ± 8
SDANN, ms	50	Male	18–30	97	130	153	209	256	167 ± 5	26 ± 3	< 0.001
	54		30–39	87	121	144	172	221	149 ± 5
	43		40–49	81	112	126	171	215	140 ± 5
	43		50–59	71	106	138	163	205	138 ± 5
	35		≥ 60	51	100	120	132	234	121 ± 6
	87	Female	18–30	77	104	125	138	160	122 ± 4
	100		30–39	73	98	120	144	186	122 ± 4
	67		40–49	57	93	111	138	162	114 ± 4
	49		50–59	67	108	127	144	178	126 ± 5
	15		≥ 60	60	77	93	113	152	98 ± 9
rMSSD, ms	50	Male	18–30	27	44	53	81	106	60 ± 3	4 ± 2	0.070
	54		30–39	22	30	40	51	83	43 ± 3
	43		40–49	17	24	32	45	56	34 ± 3
	43		50–59	19	23	30	39	58	33 ± 3
	35		≥ 60	12	22	29	51	153	40 ± 3
	87	Female	18–30	24	34	45	58	78	47 ± 2
	100		30–39	18	29	37	49	80	41 ± 2
	67		40–49	20	25	31	39	64	34 ± 2
	49		50–59	17	21	27	35	67	30 ± 3
	15		≥ 60	16	25	29	36	105	40 ± 5
pNN50, %	50	Male	18–30	5	13	22	33	46	23 ± 1	2 ± 1	0.017
	54		30–39	2	6	9	19	32	13 ± 1
	43		40–49	1	3	6	12	20	8 ± 1
	43		50–59	1	3	5	9	17	7 ± 1
	35		≥ 60	0.25	1	3	7	38	7 ± 2
	87	Female	18–30	4	10	15	21	32	16 ± 1
	100		30–39	1	5	11	18	35	13 ± 1
	67		40–49	1	3	7	12	31	9 ± 1
	49		50–59	0.50	2	3	7	14	5 ± 1
	15		≥ 60	1	1	4	6	13	5 ± 2

[i] ‘Healthy’ sample excluded those under medication use, those who had HTN, DM, obesity, current smokers, past stroke, past AMI, cancer, cardiac revascularization or angioplasty (see Appendix Figure A1). Male (n = 225) and Female (n = 318). se = standard error; HTN = hypertension; DM = diabetes mellitus; AMI = acute myocardium infarction; NN = normal-to-normal; SDNN = standard deviation of NN intervals; SDANN = standard deviation of the average of all consecutive 5-minute NN intervals; rMSSD = root mean square of successive difference of NN intervals; pNN50 = percentage of consecutive NN intervals that deviate from one another by more than 50 ms.

**HRV measures showing mean values by age decade and sex distribution of the ‘Healthy’ sample.** SDNN = standard deviation of NN intervals; SDANN = standard deviation of the average of all consecutive 5-minute NN intervals; rMSSD = root mean square of successive difference of NN intervals; pNN50 = percentage of consecutive NN intervals that deviate from one another by more than 50 ms. Female (n = 318) and Male (n = 225). Age ≥ 18 and < 30y (n = 137); age 30–39y (n = 154); age 40–49y (n = 110); age 50–59y (n = 92); age ≥ 60y (n = 50). According to 2-way ANOVA, testing difference among groups, for SDNN (p-value for sex = < 0.001, for age-decade = < 0.001 and for age-decade*sex interaction = 0.023); For SDANN (p-value for sex = < 0.001, for age-decade = < 0.001 and for age-decade*sex interaction = 0.011; For rMSSD (p-value for sex = 0.070, for age-decade < 0.001 and for age-decade*sex interaction = 0.096); For pNN50 (p-value for sex = 0.017, for age-decade = < 0.001 and for age-decade*sex interaction = 0.009).

**HRV measures showing the LOESS regression curves by 5-year interval of the ‘Healthy’ sample (n = 543).** HRV = heart rate variability; LOESS (Locally Weighted Scatterplot Smoothing) regression curve, where the center is the predictive value and shadow represents 95% confidence intervals; SDNN = standard deviation of NN intervals; SDANN = standard deviation of the average of all consecutive 5-minute NN intervals; rMSSD = root mean square of successive difference of NN intervals; pNN50 = percentage of consecutive NN intervals that deviate from one another by more than 50 ms.

Age and Sex Differences in Heart Rate Variability and Vagal Specific Patterns – Baependi Heart Study

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Table 2

Figure 1

Figure 2

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