Heart rate variability in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: Association with clinical and echocardiographic features

Autonomic dysfunction has been reported in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. To evaluate the influence of different clinical and echocardiographic features of the disease on sympathovagal balance, as assessed by heart rate variability, 33 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and 33 healthy volunteers underwent echocardiographic examination and 24-hour electrocardiogram Holter recording. Measures of vagal modulation of heart rate were lower in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy than in controls, particularly in those exhibiting syncope, exertional chest pain, dyspnea, or moderate or severe mitral regurgitation. Furthermore the age-corrected multiple regression analysis showed that the parasympathetic cardiac control was inversely related to left atrial dimension and directly related to left ventricular end-systolic dimension. Therefore in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy the parasympathetic withdrawal is more evident in patients with symptoms than in those without; the reduction in left ventricular end-systolic dimension and the increase in left atrial size are the echocardiographic features that most influence the sympathovagal balance.