Autonomic tone assessed by heart rate variability in uncomplicated coronary artery disease

Previous studies concerning heart rate variability (HRV) in uncomplicated coronary artery disease (CAD) show contradictory results. This is due in part to the inclusion of patients with previous infarction, poor left ventricular function, diabetes mellitus, hypertension or /spl beta/-blocker therapy in some of these studies. The authors performed HRV analysis in 44 consecutive patients with stable angina pectoris undergoing coronary angiography and classified them from single to three vessel disease. Patients with one of the features mentioned above were excluded. Twenty-three normal patients served as control group. No significant differences of the HRV parameters could be observed normals and CAD patients. It is concluded that HRV is not altered in uncomplicated CAD.