Comparative study of heart rate variability, heart rate and blood pressure in different phases of menstrual cycle in healthy young women aged 22-40 years

Abstract

Heart Rate Variability analysis has gained much importance in recent years, as a technique employed to explore the activity of autonomic nervous system (ANS), and as an important early marker for identifying different pathological conditions. Autonomic nervous activities fluctuate during the menstrual cycle. The aim of the present study was to compare and evaluate the changes in the ANS activity measured by the frequency domain analysis during different phases of menstrual cycle. The subjects consisted of 50 healthy adult females aged 22-40 years who had regular menstrual cycles. The electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings were taken during the different phases of the menstrual cycle. Heart rate variability (HRV) was analyzed by means of two main frequency components that is the low frequency (LF) and the high frequency (HF) components using appropriate software. Heart rate (HR) and blood pr essure (BP) were also recorded. In the frequency domain analysis, the low frequency component (LF) was significantly higher (p<0.01) during the luteal phase and the high frequency component (HF) was significantly higher (p<0.01) in follicular phase. The LF/HF ratio was significantly greater in (p<0.01) the luteal phase compared to follicular and menstrual phases (p<0.001). Changes in Heart rate (HR) were maximum in the luteal phase and minimum in the follicular phase. Blood pressure (BP) did not show any significant change during different phases of menstrual cycle. These findings indicate that sympathetic nervous activity in the luteal phase is greater than in the follicular phase, whereas parasympathetic nervous activity is predominant in the follicular phase.