ArticleERJ open research2024
Heart rate variability in pulmonary vascular disease at altitude: a randomised trial.
Article in ERJ open research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of acute high-altitude exposure on heart rate variability: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Pooled it
- Nocturnal Hypoxaemia in PAH Patients Living at High Altitude Relocated to Low Altitude.Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases · 2026Article
- Association between visceral fat area and heart rate variability in high altitude migrants with OSA: the mediating effect of insulin resistance.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Article
- HRV and blood parameters for assessing the physiological functioning of cyclists during long-distance rides across different altitudes.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Changes and monitoring technology of human heart rate and blood oxygen saturation under high-altitude hypoxia.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Hypoxia is a trigger for sympathetic activation and autonomic cardiovascular dysfunction. Pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) is associated with hypoxaemia, which increases with altitude. The aim was to investigate how exposure of patients with PVD to hypobaric hypoxia at altitude affects autonomic cardiovascular regulation. Methods: In a randomised crossover study, patients with PVD were studied for 1 day and one night at an altitude of 2500 m (hypobaric hypoxia) and low altitude at 470 m in a random order. Outcomes were heart rate variability (HRV) in the time domain and in the frequency domain (low frequency (LF)/high frequency (HF) and LF/HF) and heart rate (HR) during day and night and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS). Results: In 25 patients with PVD (72% pulmonary arterial hypertension and 28% distal chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension; mean±sd age 60.7±13.6 years), exposure to altitude resulted in significant increases in awake HR by 9.4 bpm (95% confidence interval (CI) 6.3-12.4, p<0.001) and nocturnal HR by 9.0 bpm (95% CI 6.6-11.4, p<0.001) and significant changes in awake and particularly nocturnal HRV indicating decreasing parasympathetic and increasing sympathetic activity (change in daytime LF/HF 1.7 (95% CI 0.6-2.8), p=0.004; nocturnal LF/HF 1.9 (95% CI 0.3-3.4), p=0.022) and a significant decrease in BRS (-2.4·mmHg Conclusion: Exposure of PVD patients to altitude resulted in a significant change in HRV indicating an increase in sympathetic activity and a decrease in BRS. The relative change in HRV at altitude was more pronounced during sleep.
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Registered trials
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