Detection and significance of a discrete very low frequency rhythm in RR interval variability in chronic congestive heart failure

Although in advanced chronic congestive heart failure (CHF) very low frequency (<0.04 Hz, VLF) oscillations are prominent, the clinical importance and the physiologic basis of these rhythms have not been elucidated. To investigate the physiologic determinants of the VLF rhythms in RR interval variability, we studied 36 patients with stable, moderate to severe CHF (33 men, age: 58 ± 8 years, ejection fraction 25 ± 10%, peak oxygen consumption 18.1 ± 4.6 ml/kg/min) and 12 age- and sex-matched controls using autoregressive spectral analysis of RR interval, blood pressure, and respirator/ signals during controlled conditions. We quantified low frequency (LF) (0.04 to 0.15 Hz), high frequency (HF) (0.15 to 0.40 Hz), VLF, and total power (0 to 0.5 Hz), and calculated the coherence between systolic blood pressure and RR interval variability within each band. Peripheral chemosensitivity was assessed by the ventilatory response to hypoxia using transient inhalation of pure nitrogen. The influence of transient inactivation of peripheral chemoreceptors on the VLF rhythm was investigated by exposing 6 patients to hyperoxic (60% oxygen) conditions for 20 minutes. Twenty-three patients (64%) with CHF, but no controls, had a discrete VLF rhythm (0.019 ± 0.008 Hz) in RR variability. The presence of VLF rhythm was not related to any difference in clinical parameters (etiology, New York Heart Association class, ejection fraction, oxygen uptake) but rather to a different pattern in RR interval and blood pressure variability: lower LF power (2.8 ± 1.6 ms2 natural logarithm [ln]) compared either to patients without VLF (4.0 ± 1.3 ms2 ln) or to controls (5.9 ± 0.7 ms2 ln), higher percentage of power within VLF band (86.3 ± 8.3% vs 77.5 ± 7.9% and 61.5 ± 14.1%) and a markedly impaired coherence between RR interval and systolic blood pressure variability within the LF band (0.26 ± 0.10 vs 0.42 ± 0.18 and 0.63 ± 0.15, in patients with vs without VLF peak and controls, respectively). Patients with VLF had significantly increased hypoxic chemosensitivity, and hyperoxic conditions were able to decrease VLF power and abolish the VLF rhythm in 5 of 6 patients with CHF. Discrete VLF oscillations in RR variability are common in patients with advanced CHF and appear to be related to severely impaired autonomic regulation and suppression of baroreceptor function, with enhancement of hypoxic chemosensitivity. We hypothesize that this rhythm represents an enhanced chemoreflex harmonic oscillation in CHF patients, which may have application for arrhyrhmogenesis.