Variabilité Sinusale chez un Groupe de Sujets en Insuffisance Cardiaque Congestive à Yaoundé Heart rate variability in a group of patients with heart failure in Yaounde

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE. Heart rate variability (HRV) has emerged in the West as an important prognostic factor in congestive heart failure (CHF), especially for risk stratification of sudden death. The objective of this study was to analyze the HRV in a sample of patients with CHF and deduce the direction of variation. METHODS. This was a descriptive study in patients with CHF. Patients with atrial fibrillation were excluded. Holter ECG recording (Recorder KONTRON MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS) was performed in 30 subjects with CHF (aged 60 ± 16 years, NYHA class II to IV, EF: 34 ± 6.7%) and 10 normal subjects matched by sex and age groups. The calculation of the parameters of HRV was done with the software: "Advanced HRV Analysis Software ®" which provides the conventional parameters of temporal analysis (SDNN), the frequency analysis (LF, HF, LF / HF) the parameters of the Poincare plot (SD1, SD2). RESULTS. All the HRV parameters were abnormally low in subjects with CHF compared to controls with a statistically significant difference: p <0.0001 for SDNN, p <0.0001 for LF and HF, p <0.0001 for the LF / HF ratio, p <0.0001 for SD1, p <0.05 for SD2.Altered heart rate variability was correlated with CHF, higher NYHA class, reduced ejection fraction and with the presence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus. The alteration of the HRV appeared independent of the etiology of CHF and the type of myocardial dysfunction. CONCLUSION. This work shows similar results to those found by most studies in the literature.