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Age and Ageing 2002; 31: 131-135
© 2002, British Geriatrics Society

Research papers

Short-term heart rate variability during a cognitive challenge in young and older adults

Robert Wood, Brian Maraj1, C. Matthew Lee and Rafael Reyes

Louisiana State University, Department of Kinesiology, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
1 University of Alberta, Department of Physical Education and Recreation, Alberta, Calgary, Canada

Abstract

Background: attention-demanding tasks cause changes in the autonomic modulation of cardiac function. Heart rate variability, an index of autonomic modulation of heart rate, decreases with age.

Objective: to examine heart rate variability in elderly and young participants at rest and during an attention-demanding task.

Methods: we assessed 16 old participants (ages 72–91) and 16 college-age (ages 20–25) participants for short-term (5 min) heart rate variability at rest and during a simple-reaction time task. We report heart rate variability as the standard deviation of all interbeat intervals, and as the relative contribution of changes occurring at low- and high-frequencies.

Results: there were no group differences in resting heart rate. A 2x2 mixed model ANOVA suggested a main effect of age on standard deviation of all interbeat intervals (P<0.05) which was significantly lower for the older group than their younger counterparts. There was also a significant effect of the test condition on standard deviation of all interbeat intervals and spectral measures of heart rate variability (P<0.05) in that standard deviation of all interbeat intervals dropped during the simple reaction time as did high-frequencies, while normalized low frequency power increased.

Conclusion: cardiac autonomic modulation during provocative stress show similar physiologic responses in young and older adults.

Keywords: ageing, cardiovascular, heart, autonomic, stress


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