Heart rate variability and ageing rate after concussion resulting from combat mine-explosive damage

Abstract

This study aims to investigate changes in heart rate variability (HRV) in military personnel with concussions. Men who received a brain concussion as a result of a mine-explosive brain injury during the Russian-Ukrainian war were examined. The study included 30 men with mild traumatic brain injury (concussion, age 37.4±1.70 years) and 32 healthy men (control, age 37.1±1.65 years) aged from 25 to 50 years, who were examined Blood pressure, heart rate and ECG measurements were taken from 10:00 to noon, in the supine and standing positions (within 5 minutes). HRV scores were calculated in the time domain and frequency domain. In people after a concussion, there was significantly lower control in the values of SDNN, and TP which characterise the total power of neurohumoral regulation of heart rate (p<0.05). The differences in the indicators characterizing vagal influences were especially pronounced: in patients with concussion, RMSSD and HF were lower than in controls. The activity of the baroreflex centre of the medulla oblongata, assessed by the spectral power of low-frequency waves (LF), in people with a concussion was significantly lower compared to controls (p<0.05). The sympathovagal balance (LF/HF) in people after a concussion, compared with the control, is shifted towards the predominance of the sympathetic division of the ANS. The average BA in the group of people with conсussion was 51,8±3,62 years, and in the control group – 40,84±2,38 years (p<0,05). The difference between BA and CA is 14,4±2,18 years in the group of people with contusion and 3,75±2,12 in the control group (p<0,01). The data obtained in our study allow us to conclude that concussion may be a factor that disrupts autonomic regulation and accelerates ageing. Keywords: heart rate variability; biological age; concussion