Avaliação da variabilidade da frequência cardíaca em portadores de hanseníase

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease, with slowly evolution, characterized by leading to dermatological and neurological changes. It has a great potential to cause deformities and cause physical disability. In all forms of leprosy there may be involvement of the peripheral nerves. Few studies have been found in the literature that evaluated the involvement of the cardiac autonomic nervous system (ANS) in leprosy. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) describes the oscillations of the intervals between consecutive heart beats (RR intervals), which are related to the influences of the ANS on the heart. Therefore, it can be used as an indirect measure to evaluate the functioning of the ANS. Objective: Evaluate, using HRV indexes, whether or not there is the involvement of the ANS in the leprosy, using the HRV as a marker. Casuistic and Method: The sample comprised 27 leprosy patients and 27 apparently healthy individuals. All participants were submitted to heart rate recording using the Polar RS800CX frequency meter. The recording duration was twenty minutes and the first 1000 RR intervals were selected for the analysis of linear and non-linear HRV indexes using the software Kubios HRV Premium. Results: There was no significant difference between leprosy patients and the control group, in the various HRV indexes analysed. Conclusion: Leprosy patients do not present alterations in systemic autonomic control when assessed at rest through linear and non-linear HRV indexes suggesting that the autonomic impairment could only be distal (or peripheral) in this disease.