Effect of fingolimod on cardiac autonomic regulation in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Background: Fingolimod modulates sphingosine-1-phosphate receptors that are also found in cardiovascular tissue.

Objective: To investigate the effects of fingolimod on cardiac autonomic regulation prospectively.

Methods: Twenty-seven relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients underwent 24-hour electrocardiogram recording before, at the first day of fingolimod treatment (1d) and after three months of continuous dosing (3mo).

Effects of Three Months Fingolimod Therapy on Heart Rate.

Fingolimod is a novel disease-modifying drug for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Fingolimod initiation associates with a decrease in heart rate (HR). However, the long-term effects of fingolimod on HR are not known.

Associations between PM2.5 and heart rate variability are modified by particle composition and beta-blocker use in patients with coronary heart disease.

Background: It has been hypothesized that ambient particulate air pollution is able to modify the autonomic nervous control of the heart, measured as heart rate variability (HRV). Previously we reported heterogeneous associations between particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 microm (PM2.

Preoperative alterations in correlation properties and complexity of R-R interval dynamics predict the risk of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting in patients with preserved left ventricular function.

Introduction: We evaluated whether there are constant preoperative alterations in nonlinear R-R interval dynamics that associate with the risk of postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients with preserved left ventricular function.

Methods: We analyzed mean normal-to-normal R-R intervals, short-term scaling exponent of detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA alpha(1)), approximate entropy and entropy of symbolic dynamics (SymDyn En) from 10-minute ECG recordings during rest, paced breathing, and passive tilt performed 1 day before surgery in 67 elective coronary artery bypass grafting patients.

Results: Nineteen patients developed postoperative atrial fibrillation.

Comparison of methods for editing of ectopic beats in measurements of short-term non-linear heart rate dynamics.

Non-linear heart rate (HR) dynamics characterizes the fractal properties and complexity of the variations in HR. Ventricular and supraventricular ectopic beats might introduce a mathematical artefact to the analyses on sinus rhythm. We therefore evaluated the effects of different editing practices for ectopic beats such that 753 40-min ECG recordings were (i) not edited for the ectopic beats, or the ectopic beats were edited with (ii) an interpolation or with (iii) a deletion method before the analyses of non-linear HR dynamics.

Stability over time of short-term heart rate variability.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a widely used method to assess cardiac autonomic control. However, the reproducibility of especially short-term HRV has not been properly evaluated. Therefore, we assessed the stability of short-term HRV over a three to four month period.

Effects of ultrafine and fine particulate and gaseous air pollution on cardiac autonomic control in subjects with coronary artery disease: the ULTRA study.

Previous studies have shown an association between elevated concentrations of particulate air pollution and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the association between daily variation of ultrafine and fine particulate air pollution and cardiac autonomic control measured as heart rate variability (HRV) was studied in a large multicenter study in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Erfurt, Germany, and Helsinki, Finland. Elderly subjects (n=37 in Amsterdam, n=47 in both Erfurt and Helsinki) with stable coronary artery disease were followed for 6 months with biweekly clinical visits.

Effect of acute carbon monoxide exposure on heart rate variability in patients with coronary artery disease.

Epidemiological studies have shown that air pollution is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality. Although the pathophysiological mechanisms behind this association have remained largely unknown, it has been suggested that changes in cardiac autonomic function may play a role. In this study, we investigated the association between acute carbon monoxide (CO) exposure and cardiac autonomic function as measured by heart rate variability (HRV) in subjects with stable coronary artery disease.