Body Mass Index May Influence Heart Rate Variability

We read with interest the article by Bassi et al., titled “Effects of Coexistence Hypertension and Type II Diabetes on Heart Rate Variability and Cardiorespiratory Fitness”, published in the issue of July 2018. The authors investigated the influence of systemic hypertension on cardiac autonomic modulation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and assessed the heart rate variability (HRV) on exercise capacity in these patients. They concluded that hypertension negatively affects cardiac autonomic function, with greater impairment in HRV, when compared to normotensive patients with T2DM.

Several aspects of this study require discussion. As previously reported, numerous factors may have impact on HRV indices, including sex, insulin resistance, body mass index (BMI), hyperlipidemia, hypertension, ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, and smoking status.^– For instance, increased BMI can independently decrease HRV, particularly when central adiposity is present. Indeed, the hypertensive group had a higher BMI when compared to the normotensive group (28 ± 4.4 vs 31 ± 3.8, p = 0.031). Given the lack of control for BMI between the two groups, the conclusions made by the authors should be regarded cautiously.

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