HEART RATE VARIABILITY IN PATIENTS WITH MODERATE AND SEVERE COVID-19

ABSTRACT

The study of heart rate variability (HRV) in COVID-19 is of undoubted interest, as it allows one to judge about disturbances in the work of the cardiovascular system, as well as about shifts in the state of autonomic regulation of physiological functions. Both of these systems are targets for viral damage. The aim. To investigate how HRV changes in seriously ill COVID-19 depending on the severity of the disease, as well as to determine the prognostic role of ROC analysis in predicting the outcome of the pathological process. Materials and methods. observations were carried out on 29 patients of moderate severity (age 58.7 +/- 6.5 years), and 55 seriously ill (59.4 +/- 9.2 years) COVID-19. The control group consisted of 69 people (mean age 62.5 +/- 9.6). HRV was studied using the Rehovot Dynamic Light Scattering apparatus (Israel) and using an original algorithmic approach. Statistical processing was performed using the R language version 3.6.2. To assess the relationship between the studied indicators, the Pearson correlation method was applied. To calculate the threshold values for survival and mortality, which have predictive value, an ROC analysis was performed. Results. In patients with COVID-19, HRV parameters significantly decreased. There were no significant differences in the studied values between groups of different severity. The data obtained indicate a violation of the activity of both the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system. ROC analysis of HRV did not provide a predictive model for COVID-19 with a high probability of an outcome. Conclusion. In patients with moderate and severe COVID-19, the main indicators of HRV are significantly reduced. Using ROC analysis of HRV, no significant predictors of favorable and fatal outcomes were found in patients with COVID-19.