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Cardioventilatory Coupling during sleep

CARDIOVENTILATORY COUPLING DURING SLEEP

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Karyn O'Keeffe 1, 2, Peter Larsen 1, Angela Campbell 2, Duncan Galletly 1
Departments of (1) Surgery and Anaesthesia and (2) Medicine, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences

We investigated the temporal synchronisation of heart beats and the onset of inspiration (cardioventilatory coupling) in 10 adult subjects aged 18-49 years during normal sleep. We observed cardioventilatory synchronisation in all 10 subjects, although the strength, pattern and duration of synchronisation varied considerably between subjects and over time. Using the proportional Shannon entropy (SHa) as a measure of synchronisation strength, we observed that coupling was significantly different between the awake state and sleep (p=0.01). SHa in the awake state was significantly higher (less synchronised) than in sleep, but that there was no significant differences in SHa between sleep stages. We have previously described cardioventilatory synchronisation in spontaneously breathing anaesthetised subjects. Each of the patterns of synchronisation that we have previously described in anaesthesia was observed in the current study. In addition, we observed previously described patterns of respiratory variability and distinct patterning in the heart rate time series. The clinical significance of cardioventilatory synchronisation during sleep is worthy of further research.

Supported by: Wellington Medical Research Foundation

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