Low-frequency Spectral Power of Heart Rate Variability Is Not a Specific Marker of Cardiac Sympathetic Modulation

Background Heart rate variability in the frequency domain has been proposed to reflect cardiac autonomic control. Therefore, measurement of heart rate variability may be useful to assess the effect of epidural anesthesia on cardiac autonomic tone. Accordingly, the effects of preganglionic cardiac sympathetic blockade by segmental epidural anesthesia were evaluated in humans on spectral power of heart rate variability. Specifically, the hypothesis that cardiac sympathetic blockade attenuates low-frequency spectral power, assumed to reflect cardiac sympathetic modulation, was tested. Methods Ten subjects were studied while supine and during a 15-min 40- degrees head-up tilt both before and after cardiac sympathetic blockade by segmental thoracic epidural anesthesia (sensory block: C6-T6). ECG, arterial pressure, and respiratory excursion (Whitney gauge) were recorded, and a fast-Fourier-transformation was applied to 512-s data segments of heart rate derived from the digitized ECG at the end of each intervention. Results With cardiac sympathetic blockade alone and the subjects supine, both low-frequency (LF, 0.06–0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (HF, 0.15–0.80 Hz) spectral power remained unchanged. During tilt, epidural anesthesia attenuated the evoked increase in heart rate (+11 *symbol* min sup -1 + 7 SD vs. +6 + 7, P - 0.024). However, while during tilt cardiac sympathetic blockade significantly decreased the LF/HF ratio (3.68 plus/minus 2.52 vs. 2.83 plus/minus 2.15, P = 0.041 vs. tilt before sympathetic blockade), a presumed marker of sympathovagal interaction, absolute and fractional LF and HF power did not change. Conclusions Although preganglionic cardiac sympathetic blockade reduced the LF/HF ratio during tilt, it did not alter spectral power in the LF band during rest or tilt. Accordingly, low-frequency spectral power is unlikely to specifically reflect cardiac sympathetic modulation in humans.