Cited by 462Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlCardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmiasCardiovascular Syncope and Autonomic Disorders

Heart Rate Turbulence: Standards of Measurement, Physiological Interpretation, and Clinical Use

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Bauer, Axel, Malik, Marek, Schmidt, Georg, Barthel, Petra, Bonnemeier, Hendrik, Cygankiewicz, Iwona, Guzik, Przemyslaw, Lombardi, Federico +6 more·2008·Journal of the American College of Cardiology

Abstract

This consensus statement has been compiled on behalf of the International Society for Holter and Noninvasive Electrophysiology. It reviews the topic of heart rate turbulence (HRT) and concentrates on technologies for measurement, physiologic background and interpretation, and clinical use of HRT. It also lists suggestions for future research. The phenomenon of HRT refers to sinus rhythm cycle-length perturbations after isolated premature ventricular complexes. The physiologic pattern of HRT consists of brief heart rate acceleration (quantified by the so-called turbulence onset) followed by more gradual heart rate deceleration (quantified by the so-called turbulence slope) before the rate returns to a pre-ectopic level. Available physiologic investigations confirm that the initial heart rate acceleration is triggered by transient vagal inhibition in response to the missed baroreflex afferent input caused by hemodynamically inefficient ventricular contraction. A sympathetically mediated overshoot of arterial pressure is responsible for the subsequent heart rate deceleration through vagal recruitment. Hence, the HRT pattern is blunted in patients with reduced baroreflex. The HRT pattern is influenced by a number of factors, provocations, treatments, and pathologies reviewed in this consensus. As HRT measurement provides an indirect assessment of baroreflex, it is useful in those clinical situations that benefit from baroreflex evaluation. The HRT evaluation has thus been found appropriate in risk stratification after acute myocardial infarction, risk prediction, and monitoring of disease progression in heart failure, as well as in several other pathologies.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.jacc.2008.07.041

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  • Clinical and ECG covariates such as age, LVEF, NYHA class, heart rate, number of PVCs, pharmacotherapy, and invasive therapeutic strategies influence HRT results.

    “Clinical and ECG covariates such as age, LVEF, NYHA class, heart rate, number of PVCs, pharmacotherapy, and invasive therapeutic strategies influence HRT results (Bauer et al., 2008;Cygankiewicz, 2013).”

    From 2017 ISHNE-HRS expert consensus statement on ambulatory ECG and external cardiac monitoring/telemetry (2017) · cites this paper as Bauer et al., 2008

    The Physiologic Background section says increasing age is associated with decreased HRT and that LVEF significantly influences its measures. The Modifications of HRT by specific interventions section reports effects of medications, coronary reperfusion, and bypass surgery. The copy does not establish in its discussion that NYHA class or baseline heart rate changes HRT results; it discusses PVC number as a requirement for reliable measurement rather than as a demonstrated influence on HRT itself (page numbers unavailable). (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  • Abnormal HRT parameters have been documented in various subsets of patients following myocardial infarction, or patients with heart failure or other cardiac and noncardiac diseases such as diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, or connective tissue diseases.

    “Abnormal HRT parameters have been documented in various subsets of patients following myocardial infarction, or patients with heart failure or other cardiac and noncardiac diseases such as diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, or connective tissue diseases (Barthel et al., 2003;Bauer et al., 2008;Cygankiewicz et al., 2008;Exner et al., 2007;Huikuri et al., 2009;Schmidt et al., 1999).”

    From 2017 ISHNE-HRS expert consensus statement on ambulatory ECG and external cardiac monitoring/telemetry (2017) · cites this paper as Bauer et al., 2008

    The Clinical Use of HRT section reports abnormal HRT after myocardial infarction and in patients with heart failure and diabetes. It also reports abnormal TO and TS during obstructive sleep apnea episodes. The passages do not document abnormal HRT in connective tissue diseases, so that part of the sentence is not supported by this source. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Abnormal HRT seems to be particularly useful in identifying high-risk patients among those with LVEF >30% and is frequently evaluated in risk scores that combine assessment of arrhythmogenic substrate, repolarization instability, and abnormal autonomic nervous system tone.

    “Abnormal HRT seems to be particularly useful in identifying high-risk patients among those with LVEF .30%(Bauer et al., 2008;Cygankiewicz et al., 2009;La Rovere et al., 2012) and is frequently evaluated in risk scores that combine assessment of arrhythmogenic substrate (low LVEF), repolarization instability (e.g., TWA), and abnormal autonomic nervous system tone (HRV).”

    From 2017 ISHNE-HRS expert consensus statement on ambulatory ECG and external cardiac monitoring/telemetry (2017) · cites this paper as Bauer et al., 2008

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  • Heart rate turbulence analyzes the baroreceptor-mediated response of the sinus node to premature ventricular beats composed of an early acceleration and subsequent deceleration and is an indicator of baroreceptor sensitivity.

    “Heart rate turbulence analyzes the baroreceptor-mediated response of the sinus node to premature ventricular beats composed of an early acceleration and subsequent deceleration and is an indicator of baroreceptor sensitivity (Schmidt et al., 1999;Bauer et al., 2008).”

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Research works printed but not linked: 10

  1. [8]8. Schneider R, Röck A, Malik M, Camm AJ, Barthel P, Schmidt G. Heart rate turbulence: rate of frequency decrease predicts mortality in chronic heart disease patients (abstr). Pacing Clin Electrophysiol 1999;22:879.
  2. [18]18. Malik M, Wichterle D, Schmidt G. Heart-rate turbulence. G Ital Cardiol 1999;29:65-9.
  3. [20]20. Hecht AF. [The Morgagni-Adams-Stokes Syndrome in childhood and its treatment.] Wien Med Wochenschr 1914;64:178.
  4. [22]22. Wilson FN, Robinson AC. Two cases of complete heart block showing unusual features. Arch Intern Med 1918;21:166.
  5. [23]23. Pearsonnet A, Miller R. Heart block. The influence of ventricular systole upon the auricular rhythm in complete and incomplete heart block. Am Heart J 1944;27:676 -87.
  6. [26]26. Döhlemann C, Murawski P, Theissen K, Haider M, Forster C, Poppl SJ. [Ventricular premature systoles causing ventriculophasic sinus arrhythmia.] Z Kardiol 1979;68:557-65.
  7. [46]46. Güttler N, Vukajlovic D, Berkowitsch A, et al. Effect of vagus blockade with atropine on heart-rate turbulence (abstr). Pacing Clin Electrophysiol 2001;24:625.
  8. [50]50. Sung C, Mathur VS, Garcia E, De Castro CM, Hall RJ. Is postextrasystolic potentiation dependent on Starling's law? Circula- tion 1980;62:1032-5.
  9. [102]102. Barthel P, Bauer A, Schneider R, Schmidt G. Impact of age on prognostic significance of heart rate turbulence (abstr). Circulation 2005;112:U456.
  10. [114]114. Barthel P, Schmidt G, Malik M, et al. Heart rate turbulence in post-MI patients with and without diabetes (abstr). J Am Coll Cardiol 2000;35:144A.

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Authors
Bauer, A., Malik, M., Schmidt, G., Barthel, P., Bonnemeier, H., Cygankiewicz, I., Guzik, P., Lombardi, F., Müller, A., Oto, A., Schneider, R., Watanabe, M., Wichterle, D., & Zareba, W.
Affiliations
  • Deutsches Herzzentrum München (DE)
  • University of Lübeck (DE)
  • University of Rochester Medicine (US)
  • University of Milan (IT)
  • Hacettepe University (TR)
  • Saint Louis University (US)
  • Charles University (CZ)
Venue
Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-10
Volume
52
Issue
17
Pages
1353-1365
ISSN
0735-1097 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2004025317
Cited by
462
References
284
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 46 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 48 · 2012: 37
FWCI
21.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of the American College of Cardiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • mediaTUM – the media and publications repository of the Technical University Munich (Technical University Munich) (submittedVersion)
  • Hacettepe University Institutional Repository (hacettepe.edu.tr) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Cardiovascular Syncope and Autonomic Disorders
Keywords
heart rate turbulence, baroreflex sensitivity, premature ventricular contractions, vagal withdrawal, heart rate acceleration, heart rate deceleration, heart failure monitoring, autonomic nervous system, Holter monitoring
MeSH terms
Arrhythmias, Cardiac, Consensus Development Conferences as Topic, Consensus Statements as Topic, Heart Conduction System, Heart Rate, Humans, Prognosis, Vagus Nerve, Ventricular Function, Baroreflex, Risk Assessment

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