Decreased Heart Rate Variability Is Associated With Declined Renal Function In Hypertensive Patients

The aim of the study was to identify the association between heart rate variability (HRV) and renal function in hypertensive patients. A total of 195 nondiabetic hypertensive patients without evident renal impairment were included in the present cross-sectional observational study. HRV was assessed for the entire 24 hours, and biomarkers of renal function including serum levels of creatinine, urea nitrogen, uric acid, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were measured. Association between HRV and renal function parameters was identified by univariate correlation analysis, stepwise multivariate linear regression analysis and binary Logistic regression analysis. Patients with depressed HRV (SDNN < 100 ms) had higher serum levels of urea nitrogen, creatinine, and uric acid as well as decreased eGFR values compared with patients with normal HRV (SDNN = 100 ms). After adjusting for compounding factors, only eGFR remained positively correlated with SDNN (beta = 0.534, P < 0.01). Moreover, eGFR is an independent variable predicting the presence of depressed HRV (OR = 0.959 [0.931, 0.989]) according to logistic analysis. Our results indicate that declined HRV parameter SDNN is associated with declined renal function in essential hypertension.