Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Assessment of the primary effect of aging on heart rate variability in humans

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Clinical Autonomic Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Beat-to-beat heart rate variability (HRV), reflecting cardiac autonomic control mechanisms, is known to change with age. However, the degree to which this change is mediated by aging per se or by physiologic changes characteristic of normative aging is still unclear. This study was designed to examine the association of aerobic fitness, body habitus or obesity, and blood pressure with age-related changes in HRV. Resting HRV data was recorded from 373 healthy subjects (124 men, 249 women; are range, 16–69 y) and analyzed by coarse-graining spectral analysis to decompose the total spectral power into its harmonic and fractal components. The low- and high-frequency (LF, 0.0–0.15 Hz; HF, >0.15 Hz) harmonic components were calculated from the former, whereas the latter was used to calculate the integrated power (FR) and the spectral exponent β, which were, in turn, used to evaluate the overall complexity of HRV. Factor analysis was performed to test whether potentially age-related changes in the components of HRV might be observed secondarily through other variables affecting HRV. Significant (p<0.05) age-related changes in the harmonic (HF and LF) and fractal (FR and β) components of HRV were generally consistent with those described in the literature. In addition, factor analysis showed that there was a unique common factor that primarily explained correlations among age, HF, and β (p<0.05) without the contributions from LF, FR, aerobic fitness, body habitus or obesity, and blood pressure. It was concluded that, in this population-based sample, age-related changes in HF and β, both of which reflect vagal modulation of heart rate, were primarily mediated by aging per se and not by physiologic changes characteristic of normative aging.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Malliani A, Pagani M, Lombardi F, Cerutti S. Cardiovascular neural regulation explored in the frequency domain.Circulation 1991; 84:482–492.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Hughson RL, Maillet A, Dureau G, Yamamoto Y, Gharib C. Spectral analysis of blood pressure variability in heart transplant patients.Hypertension 1995; 25:643–650.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Sands KE, Appel ML, Lilly LS, Schoen FJ, Mudge GH Jr, Cohen RJ. Power spectrum analysis of heart rate variability in human cardiac transplant recipients.Circulation 1989; 79:76–82.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Saul JP. Beat-to-beat variations of heart rate reflect modulation of cardiac autonomic outflow.News Physiol Sci 1990; 5:32–37.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Yamamoto Y, Hughson RL. On the fractal nature of heart rate variability in humans: effects of data length and β-adrenergic blockade.Am J Physiol 1994; 266:R40-R49.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Iyengar N, Peng CK, Morin R, Goldberger AL, Lipsitz LA. Age-related alterations in fractal scaling of cardiac interbeat interval dynamics.Am J Physiol 1996; 271:R1078-R1084.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Schwartz JB, Gibb WJ, Tran T. Aging effects on heart rate variability.J Gerontol 1991; 46:M99-M106.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Korkushko OV, Shatilo VB, Plachinda YI, Shatilo TV. Autonomic control of cardiac chronotropic function in man as a function of age: assessment by power spectral analysis of heart rate variability.J Auton Nerv Syst 1991; 32:191–198.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Jensen-Urstad K, Storck N, Bouvier F, Ericson M, Lindblad LE, Jensen-Urstad M. Heart rate variability in healthy subjects is related to age and gender.Acta Physiol Scand 1997; 160:235–241.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kaplan DT, Furman MI, Pincus SM, Ryan SM, Lipsitz LA, Goldberger AL. Aging and the complexity of cardiovascular dynamics.Biophys J 1991; 59:945–949.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Ryan SM, Goldberger AL, Pincus SM, Mietus J, Lipsitz LA. Gender- and age-related differences in heart rate dynamics: are women more complex than men?J Am Coll Cardiol 1994; 24: 1700–1707.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Byrne EA, Fleg JL, Vaitkevicius PV, Wright J, Porges SW. Role of aerobic capacity and body mass index in the age-associated decline in heart rate variability.J Appl Physiol 1996; 81:743–750.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Dixon EM, Kamath MV, McCartney N, Fallen EL. Neural regulation of heart rate variability in endurance athletes and sedentary controls.Cardiovasc Res 1992; 26:713–719.

    Google Scholar 

  14. De Meersman RE. Heart rate variability and aerobic fitness.Am Heart J 1993; 125:726–731.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Zahorska MB, Kuagowska E, Kucio C. Heart rate variability in obesity.Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1993; 17:21–23.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Freeman R, Weiss ST, Roberts M, Zbikowski SM, Sparrow D. The relationship between heart rate variability and measures of body habitus.Clin Auton Res 1995; 5:261–266.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Mancia G, Ferrari A, Gregorini L, Parati G, Pomidossi G, Bertinieri G, et al. Blood pressure and heart rate variabilities in normotensive and hypertensive human beings.Circ Res 1983; 53:96–104.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Basilevsky A.Statistical factor analysis and related methods: theory and applications. New York: John Wiley & Sons; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Yamamoto Y, Hughson RL. Extracting fractal components from time series.Physica D 1993; 68:250–264.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Bruce RA. Multi-stage treadmill test of submaximal and maximal exercise. Exercise testing and training of apparently healthy individuals. In:A handbook for physicians. New York: American Heart Association; 1972, pp. 32–34.

    Google Scholar 

  21. American College of Sports Medicine.Guidelines for exercise testing and prescription. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Miyashita M.Physical fitness evaluation for athietes and normal individuals. Tokyo: Sony Enterprise Inc.; 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  23. SAS/STAT User's Guide, Release 6.03 Edition. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.; 1988.

  24. Yamamoto Y, Nakamura Y, Sato H, Yamamoto M, Kato K, Hughson RL. On the fractal nature of heart rate variability in humans: effects of vagal blockade.Am J Physiol 1995; 269:R830-R837.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Kleiger RE, Miller JP, Bigger JT Jr, Moss AJ, for the Multicenter Post-Infarction Research Group. Decreased heart rate variability and its association with increased mortality after acute myocardial infarction.Am J Cardiol 1987; 59:256–262.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Bigger JT Jr, Fleiss JL, Steinman RC, Rolnitzky LM, Kleiger RE, Rottman JN. Frequency domain measures of heart period variability and mortality after myocardial infarction.Circulation 1992; 85:164–171.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. Heart rate variability: standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use.Circulation 1996; 93:1043–1065.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Lipsitz LA, Goldberger AL. Loss of ‘complexity’ and aging. Potential applications of fractal and chaos theory to senescence.JAMA 1992; 267:1806–1809.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Brown TE, Beightol LA, Koh J, Eckberg DL. Important influence of respiration of human R-R interval power spectra is largely ignored.J Appl Physiol 1993; 75:2310–2317.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Hirsch JA, Bishop B. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia in humans: how breathing pattern modulates heart rate.Am J Physiol 1981; 241:H620-H629.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Yamamoto Y, Fortrat JO, Hughson RL. On the fractal nature of heart rate variability in humans: effects of respiratory sinus arrhythmia.Am J Physiol 1995; 269:H480-H486.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Fortrat JO, Yamamoto Y, Hughson RL. Respiratory influences on non-linear dynamics of heart rate variability in humans.Biol Cybern 1997; 77:1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Shephard RJ.Physical activity and aging. London: Croom Heim Ltd.; 1978.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Physiology Laboratory, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, 113-0033, Tokyo, Japan

    Chiho Fukusaki M.SC. & Yoshiharu Yamamoto Ph.D.

  2. Department of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, 113-0033, Tokyo, Japan

    Kiyoshi Kawakubo M.D., Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Chiho Fukusaki M.SC.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kiyoshi Kawakubo M.D., Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yoshiharu Yamamoto Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoshiharu Yamamoto Ph.D..

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fukusaki, C., Kawakubo, K. & Yamamoto, Y. Assessment of the primary effect of aging on heart rate variability in humans. Clinical Autonomic Research 10, 123–130 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02278016

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02278016

Key words

Search

Navigation