Exploring 5-minute heart rate variability in spinal cord injury during acute inpatient rehabilitation

The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 2023 · DOI: 10.1080/10790268.2022.2052621 · Published: May 1, 2023

Simple Explanation

This study explores how heart rate changes in people with recent spinal cord injuries while they are in the hospital for rehabilitation. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a way to measure the balance between the body's systems that speed up or slow down the heart. The researchers took short, 5-minute measurements of HRV and looked to see if these measurements changed during the day, over the course of their hospital stay, or were related to their type of spinal cord injury or other health problems. The study also compares the HRV measurements of people with recent spinal cord injuries to those of people with long-term spinal cord injuries and people without any injuries to understand how the body's control of heart rate changes after a spinal cord injury.

Study Duration

Recordings collected within 13–86 days from injury

Participants

10 patients with acute traumatic SCI

Evidence Level

Longitudinal observational study

Key Findings

1
HRV measurements were generally stable across the day and during the inpatient rehabilitation period in patients with acute SCI.
2
Patients who showed improvement in their neurologic exam had increased parasympathetic tone, suggesting a link between nervous system recovery and HRV.
3
Patients who developed pressure injuries had lower sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, as measured by HRV.

Research Summary

This study investigated the use of 5-minute heart rate variability (HRV) measurements in patients with acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) during inpatient rehabilitation. The study found that HRV measures were stable across the day and during the inpatient stay, but clinical correlations revealed that neurological improvement was associated with increased parasympathetic tone and pressure injuries were associated with reduced sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. Comparisons with uninjured individuals and those with chronic SCI suggest that HRV may reflect the progression of autonomic nervous system (ANS) changes from the acute to chronic phase after SCI.

Practical Implications

Clinical Monitoring

HRV could potentially serve as a tool to monitor autonomic nervous system function and recovery in patients with acute SCI.

Risk Stratification

HRV measurements might help identify patients at higher risk for developing complications like pressure injuries.

Therapeutic Targets

Understanding the relationship between HRV and neurological recovery could inform targeted interventions to promote autonomic and neurological function.

Study Limitations

1
Small sample size limits the generalizability of the findings.
2
The clinical environment lacked the controlled conditions of a laboratory setting.
3
The relatively short duration between HRV recordings may have been insufficient to detect significant changes over time.

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