• Kyoung-Woo Seo, Jeong-Ah Ahn, Eui-Young Choi, and Jin-Sun Park.
• Department of Cardiology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Mar 1; 103 (9): e37339e37339.

AbstractAutonomic imbalance predicts worse clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF). Managing the variables affecting heart rate variability (HRV) might improve the clinical outcomes of patients with HF. This study aimed to investigate variables affecting HRV. We assessed autonomic nervous system activity (low-frequency [Lf], high-frequency [Hf], and Lf/Hf ratio) in 60 patients with HF, employing standard measures to capture short-term HRV. To estimate the independent effects of variables such as well-known cardiac risk factors and psychosocial conditions on HRV, multivariate analyses were conducted. For psychosocial variables, we assessed depression and quality of life in patients and their family caregivers. We also assessed the self-care behavior of patients and their caregivers' burden. Depression in family caregivers and self-care behavior of patients were independently associated with a decreased Hf (β-coefficient = 0.309, P = .039 and β-coefficient = -0.029, P = .047, respectively). Depression of family caregivers and self-care behavior of patients may affect HRV in patients with HF.Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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