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Short-term variability of blood pressure and heart rate in hyperthyroidism

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Abstract

The effect of hyperthyroidism on the short-term variability of blood pressure and heart rate was evaluated in 12 untreated hyperthyroid patients during thyrotoxicosis and after a 61/2 month treatment designed to achieve a stable euthyroid state. Beat-by-beat finger blood pressure was measured with a Finapres device. The pulse interval, from which pulse rate was derived, was obtained from the blood pressure signal. Due to the significant change in heart rhythm associated with thyrotoxicosis, both pulse interval (taken as a surrogate of heart period) and pulse rate (taken as a surrogate of heart rate) were computed. Power spectral analysis showed a reduction in the overall heart period variability in the supine position in the hyperthyroid compared to the euthyroid state. This effect was observed in the low-frequency (0.005–0.068 Hz), midfrequency (0.068–0.127 Hz) and high-frequency (respiratory) domains as well, with a significant reduction of the modulus of these bands of 31%, 35% and 47%, respectively. The heart rate spectral modulus also exhibited a reduction of the high-frequency component (31%) in the supine position in the hyperthyroid subjects. These changes in heart rhythmicity corroborate a vagal deficit in hyperthyroidism. In addition, blood pressure spectral power exhibited a significant deficit in the orthostatism-induced mid-frequency systolic blood pressure rise in the hyperthyroid state (64%) compared with the euthyroid state. This observation may reflect a reduced vascular sympathetic activation with standing. The resulting vasodilatation could well contribute to normalize blood pressure in thyrotoxicosis in which cardiac output is increased.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Pharmacologie Clinique, Association Claude Bernard, Faculté de Médicine Necker, 156 rue de Vaugirard, 75015, Paris, France

    Arlette Girard & Jean-Luc Elghozi

  2. Service de Médicine Interne, Hôpital Laënnec, 42 rue de Sèvres, 75007, Paris, France

    François-Claude Hugues & Claire Le Jeunne

Authors
  1. Arlette Girard
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  2. François-Claude Hugues
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  3. Claire Le Jeunne
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  4. Jean-Luc Elghozi
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Correspondence to Arlette Girard.

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Girard, A., Hugues, FC., Le Jeunne, C. et al. Short-term variability of blood pressure and heart rate in hyperthyroidism. Clinical Autonomic Research 8, 181–186 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02281123

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02281123

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