Indentify a High-Risk Group of Cardiovascular Complications in Hypertensive Patients by Analyzing Heart Rate Variability and Heart Rate Turbulence Parameters

Background: Low heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with arterial hypertension (AH) is a prognostic factor that increases the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. There are extreme HRV values (so called “cut-points”), beyond which there is a poor prognosis and a high risk of fatal outcomes: SDNN < 50 ms; SDANNi < 40 ms; SDNNi < 20-30 ms; RMSSD < 15 ms; pNN50 (%) < 0.17. Abnormal heart rate turbulence (HRT), as a baroreflex-mediated short-term oscillation of sinus rhythm cycle length after spontaneous ventricular extrasystoles, also has a high predictive value as a cardiovascular risk factor. The aim of our study was to evaluate HRV parameters by the “cut-points” criteria and to analyze HRT in the patients with AH. Materials and Methods: We have analyzed HRV and HRT parameters in 214 patients with AH of the II-nd degree aged 35 to 70 (57.7 ± 7.6) years: 121 women (56.5%) and 93 men (43.5%). To study changes in HRV and HRT, all patients underwent Holter monitoring (HM). The obtained data were processed using the analytical paskage “Statistics 10.0”. Results: The maximum output of HRV parameters beyond the critical values (17.39%—male, 6.58%—female) was registered at the age of 50-59 years, mainly in male with a reduction of the TS parameter. Conclusions: The analysis of HRV and HRT parameters makes it possible to identify hypertensive patients with a high risk of developing cardiovascular complications and an increased risk of fatal outcomes that should be used for timely modification of treatment measures.