Heart Rate Variability (HRV) from a 10-second Electrocardiogram (ECG) in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Control (P1.037)

Objective: To test whether reduced HRV in PD can be determined from a standard 10-second ECG. Background: Cardiac autonomic innervation is diminished in PD due to pathology involving the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, autonomic ganglia and post-ganglionic fibers. This denervation can be detected using cardiac MIBG scintigraphy, or non-invasively by reduced HRV derived from a 5-minute ECG. Whether reduced HRV can be detected using standard 10-second ECGs has not been reported. Design/Methods: Participants in the prospective Honolulu-Asia Aging Study (HAAS) had standard 12-lead resting ECGs recorded between 1991–3 and underwent triennial neurological evaluations. PD was diagnosed by expert consensus. Scanned paper ECGs were reviewed for ectopy and quality, and waveforms digitized using AMPs-ECGScan v3.3 (www.amps-llc.com). R-R intervals were extracted with Kubios_HRV v2.2 (kubios.com) and three parameters determined: SDNN (standard deviation of NN intervals), RMSSD (root mean square of successive differences), HF (high frequency power). We compared HRV in subjects with prevalent PD at the time of ECG with control subjects who remained free of parkinsonism using non-parametric tests and logistic regression. Results: 50 PD and 157 controls had analyzable ECGs. Mean (SD) age at time of ECG was 80.2 (4.3) in PD and 79.6 (4.9) in controls. Duration of PD until ECG averaged 6.2 (6.4) years, range 0–29. SDNN, RMSSD and HF were all lower in PD than control: median SDNN 9.5 vs. 12.5, p=0.003; RMSSD 13.5 vs. 16.8, p=0.007; HF 37.7 vs. 54.6, p=0.03. HRV did not vary significantly with PD duration. Adjustment for age did not appreciably change results. Conclusions: HRV parameters determined from a standard 10-second ECG were significantly lower in PD than in control subjects in this preliminary analysis. HRV analysis of routine clinical ECGs may provide a useful biomarker of PD. Ongoing work in this cohort will investigate ECG-determined HRV as a potential biomarker in prodromal PD. Study Supported by: Michael J. Fox Foundation Disclosure: Dr. Goldman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kim has nothing to disclose. Dr. Meng has nothing to disclose. Dr. Comyns has nothing to disclose. Dr. Petrovitch has nothing to disclose. Dr. Tanner has nothing to disclose. Dr. Abbott has nothing to disclose. Dr. Ross has nothing to disclose.