MEASUREMENT OF RECOVERY FROM MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION USING HEART-RATE-VARIABILITY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOMES

This pilot study was designed to describe heart rate variability (HRV) , anxiety, anger, denial, and depression during the first 4 days and 6 months after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The sample was compos ed of 21 post-AMI males aged 40 to 83. State anxiety was elevated earl y. At 6 months it had significantly The nonpower measure of HRV the Kl eiger global standard deviation, was decreased to a mean score of 86 ( SD = 29) msec during AMI and was 117 (SD = 30) msec at 6 months. Altho ugh there were no significant correlations between HRV psychological r esponse, age, and education, there were moderate correlations between HRV and state anger (r = .33), denial (r = .35), and education (r = .4 5). HRV, as measured by the power spectral density function of an auto regressive model, demonstrated an increased peak across the band of fr equency associated with the high-frequency components of the parasympa thetic system and a decreased peak across the band associated with the low-frequency components of the sympathetic system at 6 months as com pared to the AMI period.