Effects of exercise on heart rate variability by time-domain, frequency-domain and non-linear analyses in equine athletes

Abstract

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) is an intrinsic property that reflects autonomic balance and has been shown to be predictive of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. It can be altered by physiological states such as exercise or pathological conditions. However, there are only a handful of studies on HRV in horses. The aim of this study is to compare HRV parameters before and during exercise in horses. Methods: Time-domain, frequency-domain and non-linear analyses were applied to quantify time series data on RR intervals before and during exercise in horses (n=7). Results: Exercise increased heart rate from 44±8 to 113±17 bpm (ANOVA, P<0.05) and decreased standard deviation (SD) from 7±2 to 4±2 bpm, coefficient of variation (CoV) from 16±4% to 3±2% and root mean square of successive RR interval differences (RMSSD) from 89.4±91.5 to 6.5±3.7 ms. Contrastingly, no difference in low-frequency (0.10±0.03 vs. 0.09±0.03 Hz) and high-frequency (0.19±0.03 vs. 0.18±0.03 Hz) peaks, nor in their percentage powers (2±1 vs. 4±5%; 59±9 vs. 64±20%; 39±10 vs. 32±19%) were observed but very low-frequency, low-frequency, and high-frequency powers (ms2) were reduced from 29±17 to 2±5, 1138±372 to 22±22 and 860±564 to 9±6, respectively, as was total power (in logarithms) (7.52±0.52 to 3.25±0.73). Poincaré plots of RRn+1 against RRn revealed similar ellipsoid shapes before and after exercise. The SD along the line-of-identity (SD2) and SD perpendicular to the line-of-identity (SD1) were decreased by exercise (62±17 vs. 9±5 and 63±65 vs. 5±3), corresponding to increased SD2/SD1 ratio from 1.33±0.45 to 2.19±0.72. No change in approximate and sample entropy was detected (0.97±0.23 vs. 0.82±0.22 and 1.14±0.43 vs. 1.37±0.49). Detrended fluctuation analysis revealed unaltered short-term fluctuation slopes (0.76±0.27 vs. 1.18±0.55) but increased long-term fluctuation slopes (0.16±0.11 vs. 0.50±0.16) after exercise. Conclusion: Exercise leads to a decrease in HRV but did not affect signal entropy in horses.