Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2002 Oct;7(4):374-8.
doi: 10.1111/j.1542-474x.2002.tb00188.x.

Heart rate variability by triangular index in infants exposed prenatally to cocaine

Sudhir Ken Mehta  1 , Dennis M Super, Ann Salvator, Linda Goetz Fradley, David Connuck, Elizabeth S Kaufman
Affiliations

Heart rate variability by triangular index in infants exposed prenatally to cocaine

Sudhir Ken Mehta et al. Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol. 2002 Oct.

Abstract

Background: In adults, heart rate variability triangular index (HRVi) is a highly reproducible measure of heart rate variability (HRV), which makes it more suitable for use in longitudinal studies. Although normative data have been published for newborns, studies in infants with pathological conditions are lacking.

Methods: From 1997 to 2000, within the first 4 days of life, we prospectively evaluated HRVi in cocaine-exposed asymptomatic newborns (N = 97) by Holter monitoring. Their data were compared with infants from two control groups (one with no in utero drug exposure, N = 102; the other with exposure to alcohol, nicotine, or marijuana but no cocaine, N = 111).

Results: In assessing concordance between and within operators for HRVi, the intraclass correlations were 0.983 (95% CI: 0.958, 0.994) and 0.997 (95% CI: 0.984, 0.999), respectively. Infants with in utero cocaine exposure had significantly (P < 0.0001) lower HRVi than those exposed to other drugs and to no drugs in utero. If abnormal HRVi is defined as < fifth percentile for the no drug exposed group (HRVi < 8), 10% of the cocaine-exposed newborns, in contrast to 2% in each of the control groups (P = 0.003) had abnormal values.

Conclusion: HRVi is a reliable measure to study heart rate variability in newborns. Asymptomatic infants with in utero cocaine exposure have lower HRVi. Our study supports the clinical use of an abnormal HRVi as a value < 8 for newborn infants.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Rosen H, Craelius W, Curcie D, et al. Spectral analysis of heart rate variability in the newborn infant. Biol Neonate 2000;77:224–229. - PubMed
    1. Veerappan S, Rosen H, Craelius W, et al. Spectral analysis of heart rate variability in premature infants with feeding bradycardia. Pediatr Res 2000;47: 659–662. - PubMed
    1. Massin M, von Bernuth G. Normal ranges of heart rate variability during infancy and childhood. Pediatr Cardiol 1997;18:297–302. - PubMed
    1. Lotze U, Kober A, Kaepplinger S, et al. Cardiac sympathetic activity as measured by myocardial 123‐I‐metaiodobenzyl‐guanidine uptake and heart rate variability in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Am J Cardiol 1999;831548–1551. - PubMed
    1. Deligiannis A, Kouidi E, Tourkantonis A. Effects of physical training on heart rate variability in patients on hemodialy‐sis. Am J Cardiol 1999;84197–202. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources