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1 Institute of Neuroscience and 4 Department of Physiology, Tzu Chi College of Medicine and Humanities, Hualien 970; 2 Department of Neurology, Tzu Chi Buddhist General Hospital, Hualien 970; 3 Yu-Chi Health Station, Nan-Tou 555; 5 Community Medicine Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112; and 6 National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Taipei 112, Taiwan, Republic of China
To clarify the influence of gender on
sympathetic and parasympathetic control of heart rate in middle-aged
subjects and on the subsequent aging process, heart rate variability
(HRV) was studied in normal populations of women
(n = 598) and men
(n = 472) ranging in age from 40 to 79 yr. These groups were divided into eight age strata at 5-yr intervals
and were clinically diagnosed as having no hypertension, hypotension,
diabetic neuropathy, or cardiac arrhythmia. Frequency-domain analysis
of short-term, stationary R-R intervals was performed, which reveals
very-low-frequency power (VLF; 0.003-0.04 Hz), low-frequency power
(LF; 0.04-0.15 Hz), high-frequency power (HF; 0.15-0.40 Hz),
the ratio of LF to HF (LF/HF), and LF and HF power in normalized units
(LF% and HF%, respectively). The distribution of variance, VLF, LF,
HF, and LF/HF exhibited acute skewness, which was adjusted by natural logarithmic transformation. Women had higher HF in the age strata from
40 to 49 yr, whereas men had higher LF% and LF/HF between 40 and 59 yr. No disparity in HRV measurements was found between the sexes in age
strata
60 yr. Although absolute measurements of HRV (variance, VLF,
LF, and HF) decreased linearly with age, no significant change in
relative measurements (LF/HF, LF%, and HF%), especially in men, was
detected until age 60 yr. We conclude that middle-aged women and men
have a more dominant parasympathetic and sympathetic regulation of
heart rate, respectively. The gender-related difference in
parasympathetic regulation diminishes after age 50 yr, whereas a
significant time delay for the disappearance of sympathetic dominance
occurs in men.
autonomic nervous system; gender difference; frequency domain analysis
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