Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder. Impaired autonomic regulation is common in patients with IBS. Heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate recovery (HRR) are used for assessing autonomic function. The aim of this study is to evaluate autonomic nerve system activity in IBS patients using HRV and HRR.
Methods: . The study group consisted of 25 consecutive patients (13 women, mean age: 39±10 years) who were diagnosed with IBS using the Rome III criteria. 25 healthy subjects (12 women, mean age: 41±10 years) were used as the control group. Time domain and frequency domain parameters of HRV and HRR were compared between the groups.
Results: SDNN, RMSSD, LF/HF ratio were similar in study and control groups (78±12 ms vs 81±18 ms, p=.511; 41±17 ms vs 43±16 ms, p=.711; 0.7±0.2 vs 0.6±0.2 , p=.104; respectively). Also the other HRV parameters were not different between groups. IBS patients had significantly lower HRR values compared to the control group (15±5 bpm; 20±5 bpm; respectively; p=.009).
Conclusions: Although HRV indices were similar HRR was significantly lower in patients with IBS compared with healthy controls.