Blood pressure variability as sign of autonomic imbalance in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: The problem of identifying idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) patients who are at risk of sudden death is still unsolved. The presence of autonomic imbalance in patients with IDC might predict sudden death and tachyarrhythmic events. The aim of this study was to analyze the suitability of blood pressure variability (BPV) compared to heart rate variability (HRV) for noninvasive risk stratification in IDC patients.

Methods: Continuous noninvasive blood pressure and high-resolution electrocardiogram were recorded from 91 IDC patients for 30 minutes. During a median follow-up period of 28 months (range: [17-38] months), 14 patients died due to sudden death or necessary resuscitation due to a life-threatening arrhythmia. HRV and BPV analyses were performed in time domain, frequency domain, and nonlinear dynamics. Using the Mann-Whitney U test and Cox regression, we estimated the accuracy of clinical and nonclinical parameters in discriminating high-risk from low-risk patients.

Results: Dynamics of blood pressure regulation was significantly changed in high-risk patients, indicating an increased BPV. BPV indexes from nonlinear symbolic dynamics revealed significant univariate (sensitivity: 85.7%; specificity 77.9%; area under receiver-operator characteristics [ROC] curve: 87.8%) differences. In an optimum multivariate set consisting of two clinical indexes (left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, New York Heart Association) and one nonlinear index (symbolic dynamics), highly significant differences between low- and high-risk IDC groups were estimated (sensitivity of 92.9%, specificity of 86.5%, and area under ROC curve of 95.3%).

Conclusion: Diastolic BPV indexes, especially those from symbolic dynamics, appear to be useful for risk stratification of sudden death in patients with IDC.